


When Everything Changed

by tonjavmoore



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: COE Fix-it, Children of Earth, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Series 03 Fix-It: Children of Earth (Torchwood), janto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 18:16:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 33,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19773727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonjavmoore/pseuds/tonjavmoore
Summary: The Shadow Proclamation summons the Doctor to correct a grave mistake his previous incarnation made.  By not answering Jack's desperate call for help, the Doctor left Jack to an action that has set in motion a paradox that is destroying the Universe.  Unless the Doctor can repair his error, everything will collapse into nothingness.





	1. The Paradox

**Author's Note:**

> There are lots of fixits for the mess that was Children of Earth. (I may as well state from the beginning that I found the entire premise upon which it was based utterly ridiculous, but I'm willing to play in the sandbox for the sake of the story.) Because I wanted my fixit to be different, I decided to tackle one of the basic tenets that everyone seemed to accept and I asked myself, "What if...?"
> 
> The story assumes that the reader has seen Children of Earth and remembers parts of it. Otherwise, these words won't make a lot of sense. I wrote it several years ago, but I am posting it here now since I received a request from one of my favorite writers to do so. You know who you are, girl. Thank you for your kind words.

The TARDIS connected to all time and space. That was the task of a TARDIS, to warn her partner of impending danger in the Universe. This TARDIS, the last of her kind, took this task seriously, and tried to keep the Doctor informed. 

She did have a problem though. Unlike those who had gone before, this TARDIS shied away from paradoxes. She had once been held prisoner in one and forced to suffer endless agony until her Champion had rescued her from the machine. Ergo, paradoxes were something she avoided. After all, most small paradoxes resolved themselves without intervention. 

Her Champion. Of all the Companions who had traveled with in her over this long existence, she missed him the most. The moment he had come to her, they had connected on a level that she had not experienced with any other than her Lord. Her Champion could pilot her, repair her, and love her better than any of the others. She had once fled from him to protect her Lord from his fear and shame, but she would no longer do so. She had let him go the last time as he needed to return to his One, as difficult as it had been. 

Her Lord continued to be troubled by the presence of her Champion; she did not wish to add to his pain, so she kept her longings to herself. When it suddenly changed and her Lord had returned in his new form, she had many other things to concentrate on: her own repairs to make, reconnecting to the nuances of her Lord’s personality, and welcoming the new Companion: bright, beautiful, spirited Amy. 

Alas, when she returned to her task of examining time and space for anomalies, the paradox hit her full force. Not a small self-correcting one, this – a powerful and all-encompassing one. It had already consumed systems and was on its way to consuming galaxies with its destruction. It was coming closer. 

Though repulsed by the ugliness of it, the TARDIS reached out, trying to understand. She had to warn her Lord so that he could try to repair it. To her horror she found them at the center of it, both her Champion and her Lord: one embittered and despairing, the other afraid and dishonored. It was beyond terrible. 

She tried to tell him… 

________________________________________

“What’s wrong, girl?” 

Amy Pond heard the TARDIS in her mind. It was a moan of pain – pain such as she had never experienced. “Doctor, what’s going on?” she asked, stroking the wall in what she hoped was a soothing manner. “The TARDIS sounds sick.” 

The eleventh version of the Time Lord was running around the console, twiddling dials and checking readouts. “She is sick,” he said. “I’m trying to find out why.” 

A light underneath one of the monitor screens began to flash red. Amy pointed at it. “What’s that?” 

“A summons.” The Doctor’s hands flicked over the controls and a picture showed on the monitor. Amy came over to get a closer look. 

The image was of an older woman, human-looking, but her eyes were red like an albino rabbit. Her dress and necklace were black. Although her face was expressionless, Amy quickly got the idea she was furious. Her voice was cold when she spoke. “Doctor.” 

The Doctor looked even more like a boy who had been caught stealing an early bite of birthday cake than usual. He actually slicked down his hair before answering. “Yes, Madam Architect?” 

“Come here at once. At once, do you understand?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” The respect in the Doctor’s voice surprised Amy. “I may have a spot of trouble though. My ship has developed symptoms of an illness that I need to diagnose before….” 

“I know what is wrong with your ship!” The woman’s voice snapped like the crack of a whip. “You would know as well, if you could put aside that arrogance of yours and admit to your mistakes. If you don’t want her to get worse, you will come immediately.” 

The screen went blank. Amy stared at it, and then turned her stare on the Doctor. “What in God’s name was that about?” 

“I’m not sure.” The Doctor moved around the console again, this time flipping the switches that Amy knew preceded a move through space. “Whatever it is, we’ve got to get there. I feel the TARDIS getting weaker.” 

The Doctor refused to answer any more questions. His face was grim as he piloted the wobbling TARDIS. When they arrived at their destination with a hard thump, the ship rocked violently before settling. “Easy there,” the Doctor said to his ship. “I’ll find out what’s going on and we’ll fix you. Yes, we’ll fix you.” He bounded to the door and then looked at Amy. “Coming?” 

“Of course.” 

The room they came out into was surrounded by cool metal supports and bluish translucent walls that looked like glass. They were met by two large figures in armor, faces hidden by visors. “Follow,” one of them said in a harsh gravelly voice and both turned away. The Doctor started after them, with Amy in his wake. 

“Doctor,” she hissed. “Where are we? Who are those people?” 

“Shhh!” the Doctor admonished, and then proceeded to speak in a low whisper. “This is the Shadow Proclamation. Don’t speak unless spoken to.” 

The Shadow Proclamation? Amy remembered the Doctor invoking the Shadow Proclamation when he was telling the creatures searching for Prisoner Zero to leave Earth alone. She had thought it was a charter or something, not a place. 

They followed the armored men for several minutes. By now they had traversed so many identical corridors that Amy knew she would never find her way back without help. Finally, they came to a large room with a vaulted ceiling. The woman from the screen stood behind a podium-like thing made from the same material as the walls. Behind her were other men and women, also dressed formally in black, ranging from young to old. All of them seemed to be glaring at the Doctor with cold albino red eyes. 

Several more visored guards were standing with weapons raised and those were also pointed at the Doctor. Amy didn’t like this at all. The hostility in the air nearly choked her. 

The Doctor bowed. “Madam Architect. Council.” 

The Architect or whatever she was did not acknowledge the courtesy. “We’ve summoned you here for an explanation and to investigate what needs to be done in order to mend the blunders you have made.” 

The Doctor looked solemn, but his voice was not quite serious when he said, “Could you be more specific, Madam? I mean, I blunder a lot.” 

“Don’t mock us!” she said sternly. “I am referring to the individual who calls himself Captain Jack Harkness.” 

The Doctor’s normally pale skin went white and he backed up a step. “What about Jack? I saw him just before I regenerated. He was fine. A bit melancholy. I tried to cheer him up, introduced him to a good-looking chap at a bar on Proxima…” 

“Silence!” 

The Doctor stopped talking. Amy could see that his hands were actually trembling. Whoever this Captain Jack Harkness was, the Doctor was involved with him somehow. And something was terribly wrong. 

The Architect spoke again, her voice now angry as well as cold. “Either you are lying to us or lying to yourself. You know what you did. You know how you failed to act. Now Time is unraveling because of it. Your own ship feels it and is ill with it. Countless timelines are broken and more will break until the Universe collapses completely. Even the Reapers cannot repair this. Only you can.” 

________________________________________

The man sank down into a chair to steady himself as the dizziness tore at him again. It was the only chair in the cabin. He didn’t need another one since he had no visitors. These spells were becoming more violent and lasting longer, but the man was indifferent. They wouldn’t kill him. Nothing would kill him, except the end of the universe, and possibly not even that. He simply waited until it was over before getting up again. 

He’d chopped enough firewood earlier, so he put another log into the stove that stood at one end of the cot he used for sleeping. The climate at this altitude was harsh, just barely able to support life. He’d chosen it for that very reason. He had to work to keep his space livable. It filled many hours of his endless days. The technology he was developing to help himself might one day be found and make others’ lives easier. He wouldn’t be here when they found it though. He wouldn’t stay if that might happen. There were planets on the fringes with climates as rough as this. He’d move to one of those and start over. 

A knock on the door startled him so badly that he nearly broke the stove’s door off. He turned slowly. No one had knocked on his door for many, many years. He waited to see what would happen. 

There was another knock, louder this time. If someone had found him, then it was time to assemble what he needed and migrate. He went to the table and sat again, reaching for a pad to make a list. 

A fusillade of knocks was followed immediately by the door crashing open. He gave a glance at the person in the doorway, silhouetted against the snow swirling outside, and then turned his attention back to the list he was making. “Whoever you are, go away,” he said in a voice rusty from long disuse. 

He heard the door shut but the person was still there. “Are you The One Who Rises?” The voice was young and female. “I have come a long way to find you.” 

He tried to remember what system might know him by that outrageous name, but found he didn’t care. It didn’t matter. He continued with his task, saying nothing. Perhaps she would go away on her own. 

Instead footsteps came near and his shoulder was shaken. “Please, sir. My name is T’rina Farisith. Our people need your help.” 

That word again. Obviously, ignoring her wouldn’t work. He raised his head and looked at her. She had orange-tinged skin and white hair. She was too bundled up to make out her figure but she was not very tall. Probably as thin as a bird, he thought idly. The young and frantic almost always were. 

He stood, shrugging her hand away. He glared down into her eyes and said, “No.” 

The girl was confused. “We need you to help us,” she said, as though he hadn’t heard her. “I come from Manolfa Five. Our world needs…” 

“Doesn’t matter.” He backed away another step. “The answer is no.” 

“But you… your power… it’s our last hope…” 

“I don’t help. Anyone,” he added for emphasis. 

“You… but… I don’t understand…” 

“People die when I help. They die.” 

“I’m not afraid of dying,” she said. 

They were always brave. “That’s because you don’t have to live afterward. My answer is still no. You might as well leave. I won’t be here if you come back.” 

“You will help us!” she demanded. She raised a weapon and pointed it at him. “I’ll kill you and take you with me.” 

In the past he might have been amused, but he was too weary. “Won’t do you any good. I’ll just wait until you grow tired of me and then I’ll leave. I have time.” 

Obviously, this wasn’t going the way she expected. Her face darkened. “But you must! You have to help us.” 

He was out of patience. With the speed of long practice, he slapped the weapon out of her hands. He reached across the table to the cube he kept there. Suddenly the air around them was full of words. Names. “Do you see these? These are the people who have died when I was ‘helping.’ All of them, dead because of me. Because I was trying to ‘help.’” Another strong wave of dizziness seized him as one name floated across his vision, a different color than the others. He was overwhelmed with loss again – of strong arms that once held him and blue, blue eyes that glowed with love for him. He’d watched as that light faded into the emptiness of death. Because of him. 

He barely noticed her skittering across the floor to her weapon, barely heard the firing of the weapon, barely felt the pain in his chest, and his last thought was of Ianto Jones.


	2. The Questions

Amy and the Doctor were sitting in a small room just off the larger council chamber. She had given the Doctor a chance to speak first, but he was not exactly forthcoming. He sat with his lips pursed, his brows knitted, and his elbows on his knees. After a long while she said, “Who is Captain Jack Harkness?” 

The Doctor sighed. “He used to be a Companion of mine. He travelled with me before… well. Before I am who I am now. So he didn’t really travel with me at all, did he? Can anybody really meet the same man twice, whether or not he’s regenerated? On the other hand, it is the same river, even if the water’s all hundreds of miles down-stream…” 

Of course, he had to wander into the metaphysical. Amy tried to get him back on track. “But, who is he? And why do all those… um… people think he’s so important? And what did you do, or didn’t do, about him?” 

“Those are good questions, Amy Pond.” The Doctor rose and paced the small length of the room. “But the answers aren’t simple.” 

“Try me.” 

He gave her a rueful smile. “All right. But don’t be surprised if it all makes your head hurt.” 

“Go for it.” 

He dropped back into his chair. “That’s not his actual name, by the way. It’s a name he adopted after he went to live in the 20th century.” 

Amy blinked. In that one sentence the Doctor had spawned quite a few questions in her head. “After he went to live in the 20th century?” she repeated, inviting clarification before she went further down the road to utter confusion. 

“Oh. Right. Beginning. Okay, Jack – we’ll just call him Jack because that makes it simpler, if anything can be simple where Jack is concerned – Jack was born in what you’d call the 51st century, 5034 would be my best guess in Earth terms. In a human colony on one of the planets in a system near the edge of the Milky Way… Boeshane, that’s what it was called. The Boeshane Peninsula.” 

“Is that where you met him?” 

“No, no. I’m getting to that. Jack lost his family there when he was young, maybe thirteen in Earth years. He grew up and joined something called the Time Agency. Bunch of busybodies really, but they were useful for a few hundred years. They tracked down time anomalies caused by entities traveling illegally in time.” 

“Wait a second.” Amy tried to process this. “You mean there are other people who travel in time? I thought that was just you.” 

“Oh, not by a long shot. Time travel isn’t that hard, once you get the physics of it. Controlling where and when you travel, though, that’s difficult. That’s what makes a TARDIS so wonderful. She gets it right. Well, mostly, anyway.” 

Having had her own experience of the TARDIS getting it wrong by years, Amy wasn’t impressed. She steered the discussion back to this Jack person. “So Jack travelled with you in the TARDIS back to the 20th century?” 

“No, no. Jack went back to the 20th century with his Vortex Manipulator.” 

She thanked the heavens that she had a lot of patience. Persevering, she managed to get the Doctor to tell her about Jack in increments. She had no idea how long they had, but she tried hard. However, she came to a halt when the Doctor told her what had happened on the Game Station. “The TARDIS made him immortal and you just left him there?” 

“I was sick at the time,” the Doctor protested, but he didn’t meet her eyes. 

“And you didn’t go back?” 

“Um… no.” 

“Is that what they’re talking about in there?” 

“No. At least I don’t think so. Because I saw Jack again.” 

“Tell me about that.” 

Again there was evasion and convolution, but Amy managed to wring the gist of the Year That Never Was out of him. “Is that what they mean?” she said. “I mean, you let him be killed every day for a year and then left him behind again?” 

“I invited him to travel with me!” the Doctor protested. “I did! But he wanted to go back to his team. I think maybe there was one person on that team he wanted to see in particular. But I didn’t know. I had my hands full getting Martha back to London and her family and all that. I was busy.” 

“Uh, yeah. Uh huh. Busy.” Amy didn’t hide the sarcasm in her voice. “Well, is that what they’re talking about?” 

“That year was erased from all timelines, I tell you. It never happened. So, I don’t see how it could be. Anyway, I saw him again.” 

“Can I get that story?” 

At least this one was mercifully short. “And then you dropped him off again. And that was it? Or did you see him again?” 

The Doctor blushed. “Only at that bar.” 

“Did you talk to him? At the bar?” 

“He… okay, I… he didn’t look like he wanted to talk and I was in rather a hurry. So, I thought maybe I’d give him a little gift and sent him a note about the guy sitting next to him. Jack was always flirting and the fellow looked like his type.” 

Amy wondered how the Doctor, who seemed particularly clueless about human relationships, would know who Jack’s “type” was unless the Doctor wasn’t telling all he knew. “And that was it? Nothing else?” 

“I… er… got a phone call from him once. On that mobile I had before the… well, restructuring.” 

“Did you talk to him?” 

“No. I didn’t have the phone with me. I was…” 

“Busy? I’m sure. Did you call him back?” 

“I tried. I did. I called him back a while later. He didn’t answer. I tried again a few times, but he never answered. I tried someone else. She didn’t answer either.” 

“And you didn’t go check it out? I thought Jack was supposed to be your friend.” 

“There were things…” 

“Doctor, it sounds like to me that you just abandoned this man. Over and over. Why the hell would he call you if it wasn’t something important? Is that what they’re talking about?” 

“Important…” the Doctor repeated, his face screwed up in a scowl. “Was it…? It happened right about then… I might have… the linear time’s right…” 

“What, Doctor? What?” 

His eyes snapped open. “Do you remember an incident… a thing where children were all chanting in unison?” 

She nodded. “Yeah, I do. They were all chanting about something that was coming. The government said something about an inoculation program, but it didn’t happen. I think there were some reports about riots, but not where I was. The kids stopped chanting. The Prime Minister resigned and there were some grumblings about cover-ups, but it came to nothing in the end. No one that I know understood anything about it.” 

“And that was it? Nothing about threats? Nothing about aliens?” 

“No. Nothing like that. Just stuff like it had been a conspiracy and it had been found out and people were arrested and all.” 

“That’s it!” the Doctor cried. “That must be it!” He jumped up and ran out the door. 

Amy followed him. The Architect regarded the Doctor with one raised eyebrow. “I take it that you have remembered?” 

“No, not exactly. I don’t really know, but it’s about the invasion of what the humans called the 456, yes? That’s where the problem is?” 

“The 456?” Amy echoed. “Who are they?” 

“Yes, Doctor. That is where the problem – as you put it – began.” 

“But, but, but… It was supposed to happen. I know it was. It was what set the human race toward the stars.” 

“Only it didn’t, Doctor. The human race became more insular and backward.” She gestured and a screen appeared. “They regressed as arguments went on about who to blame for the fiasco that was the aftermath. Most humans never knew. By the time the human race looked to expand again, it was too late. There was no territory for them. Humanity died out.” 

“That’s impossible. It can’t have.” 

“It did. And that is unraveling Time in our Universe. Watch.” 

A star field appeared on the screen, serene and beautiful. As they watched, one of the stars began to pulse. A moment later, it exploded. Amy jumped. It was followed by another explosion and another. Soon the entire screen was full of exploding stars. When she looked back where the first star had exploded she saw blackness. Things around the blackness began to swirl and disappear into the void. It was a ghastly vision and Amy wanted to cry. 

“The 456 didn’t take the children, Doctor. They failed. One man stopped them. Captain Jack Harkness. He lost everything, but he stopped them. Because he stopped them, the human race had no impetus to try and recover the children. They did not reach out. They did not colonize. Without those colonies, there is no Boeshane Peninsula. There is no man called Jack Harkness to stop the 456, even though they were stopped by him. A paradox so large that it is destroying everything.” 

The Doctor swallowed and reached for Amy’s hand. “And what was I supposed to do that I didn’t?” 

“You, Doctor, were supposed to go to Earth and prevent the Captain from losing the key to his and humanity’s future. He reached out to you, but you with your prejudices and arrogance failed to respond. Now, our Universe is paying the price. Your TARDIS is dying from it. A short time remains to you to fix this before it goes beyond even the power of a Time Lord to act. So, what is your plan, Doctor? What are you going to do?"


	3. The First Correction

She was trying. The TARDIS was looking in all the places she could reach to find out what had gone so terribly wrong. It was difficult to probe those areas. 

Even through her pain, she could feel relief when the Doctor came back on board. He stroked and soothed her. “I know you’re hurting, but I need your help. We can fix this. Amy, can you support her? She needs to be touched.” 

The TARDIS absorbed the reassurance that flowed from her Lord’s latest Companion. She loved Amelia Pond, as she did all who travelled with them. She was so young and yet so determined. She might even earn a TARDIS name – who could say? 

“All right now, we need to look around in 21st century Earth. The path diverged there. Jack was, as usual, in the thick of it.” Even though the Doctor’s voice was casual, she could feel the sorrow and regret in his mind. “So maybe Cardiff? London?” 

She brought up what she could find. So much was hazy here; it had to be the source of the paradox. There were two of everything. Two wildly different everythings. Blinded by the agony, she flung information at her Lord until she heard him exclaim, “There!” 

Had she been a human, the TARDIS would have fainted. As she was not, she retreated into waiting. He stroked her and whispered. “It’s all right. All right for now. I’ve seen where we need to go. Rest up a bit and then we’ll travel. All right?” 

She heard Amy say, “I don’t know if she can move.” 

“She has to, so she will. Won’t you, my girl?” 

She would. She had seen more than she thought. So much sorrow for things that should not have happened. She could do this. She could take her Lord back to that time and place. She only needed to concentrate a little more. She moved, but it was so hard. She could not stay steady. 

There were gasps. “Where are we going?” Amy demanded. 

“The third day,” the Doctor answered in his distracted way. 

“Sometimes, I want to work you over with a spanner!” Amy shouted. The TARDIS knew she would have been amused if she’d had the strength. “What do you mean by ‘the third day’? The third day of what?” 

“Oh! Sorry. The third day of the invasion by the 456,” he explained. “The third day of the chanting children.” 

“Why not the first day?” 

“Because…” He appeared at a loss for a minute. “It’s one of those timey-wimey things. This is as early in the process as I can risk. Some things had to happen before I could intervene.” 

“So, are we changing history now?” 

“Not quite yet.” 

The TARDIS waggled dangerously and landed with a loud thump at her target. Her charges were safe, if rattled. This was the place. The first place where things went wrong. They had to start here. 

“However, we will be as soon as we knock on that door.” The Doctor continued. He indicated the door that led into the house of the garden in which the TARDIS had landed. “Let me get some psychic paper and off we go.” 

________________________________________

Jack couldn’t remember when he started hearing the Voice. Always before the blackness of death had been completely quiet. It wasn’t always there, but enough now that dying wasn’t unpleasant. He hadn’t died by his own hand – the Voice was never there when he did that – so he might hear it this time. 

A melodic whisper replete with lovely vowels, not identifiable as male or female. “I am here. How did it happen?” 

“I think it was a metallic projectile this time. Not sure.” Jack knew he wasn’t speaking or thinking – he was dead. It just seemed to come out somehow when the Voice came. 

“Pain?” 

“Too quick.” 

“Good. You have too much pain.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Something is changing.” 

“What?” 

“There’s a pull. Things are reversing. Do not be afraid. Let yourself be pulled.” 

“Where?” 

“Into folds and twists of time.” 

He felt the pain begin and then the dizziness. “Wait. Will you be there?” 

“When you need me.” 

The process of reviving began. 

________________________________________

The street was quiet, eerily so. Alice peeked out of the curtains for the hundredth time that day to check that the car was still there. It was. It had shown up shortly after she made the phone call with the borrowed cell phone. The two had to be linked. 

There was a soft knock on the back door. Her nerves went into full alert mode. It didn’t sound like something the people in the car would do – politely knock on her garden door – but she was taking no chances. 

A note had been slipped under the door. Cautiously she approached it, keeping a low profile. The paper felt odd to her fingers and the words were hard to focus on, but they resolved into her father’s untidy scrawl: 

Alice – 

You and Stephen are in grave danger. The government is going to take you into custody to force me to cooperate, even though what they are doing is very wrong. You know that I would do anything to keep you from harm. 

The people who bring you this note can be trusted to keep you and Stephen safe. They’re the only people who can. Please go with them. 

I love you. 

Dad 

She read it twice more. Her mother had done nothing to engender trust between father and daughter. Jack had already tried to lure Stephen into some unknown tests. This was different. She knew that those men outside were there to hurt them. At the very least she should assess the situation more thoroughly. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. 

There were two of them, a man and a woman. The woman had long red hair, pale skin, and a charming face. The man looked to be in his mid-twenties, with floppy dark hair and piercing green eyes. Alice beckoned them inside and closed the door quickly. “How do you know Jack Harkness?” she demanded. 

The man said quietly, “Jack has traveled with me on a few occasions. He’s been a good friend. We’re here to help you.” 

She frowned. “Are you Torchwood?” 

“No. If we were, we’d be on the run. I’m the Doctor and this is Amy Pond. The government is trying to find Torchwood and eliminate them.” 

“Do they know Jack can’t die?” 

“Yes, but they tried anyway. That explosion on the Roald Dahl Plass? It was designed to kill him and his team. They’re still in hiding.” 

Alice weighed the possibilities. Was this just a trick to get her and Stephen into custody without violence? She didn’t think the government was that clever. Jack, yes, but not them. Besides, there was something about this man that seemed… unusual. She looked at the girl with him. 

“What he said,” she remarked in a softly understated burr. “We really are here to help. But you have to come quick. Those men will be bursting in here at any moment. They’re already out of the car.” 

Alice turned and ran into the parlor. “Come with me, Stephen. Right now.” She didn’t have to look out. She could see shapes moving toward the house. How those two could get them away now, she didn’t know, but she was out of options. She held Stephen’s hand tightly and went back to the door. “Let’s go.” 

The girl Amy led them and the man called the Doctor brought up the rear. They hurried to a corner of the garden and Alice couldn’t restrain a gasp of surprise when a blue police box suddenly appeared. “There’s not enough room to hide in there! Won’t they look?” 

“Come on,” Amy insisted. She opened the door and disappeared inside. 

Alice took a deep breath and tightened her hold on Stephen’s hand. She stepped across the threshold, prepared to be crammed up against Amy. To her surprise there was a large open area, almost the size of her house. Stephen was the first to speak. “Wow, Mum! It’s big!” 

The Doctor came from behind them. “Yes, son, it’s bigger on the inside.” Lowering his voice, he added, “Do you want to watch what’s going on?” 

Even though she was still somewhat dazed, Alice nodded and let him lead her over to a screen. It showed people in front of her house, inside, and on both sides. There were men peering behind her hedges and in the mews. 

As each person shouted “Clear!” Alice felt herself breathing easier. A man appeared talking into a phone. Alice could tell he was not pleased. He called the people to him and told them to search the nearby houses. 

“Why can’t they see this box?” she said. 

“A little piece of technology called a perception filter. Makes her invisible for all intents and purposes.” 

“Her?” 

“My ship. Do you feel any better now, my girl?” Alice watched him stroke the console. “We’ve only just begun, but we’re off to a good start.” 

Was he crazy? Maybe. Maybe she was crazy. Maybe this was some sort of strange dream. Or maybe not. “Are we just going to stay here?” 

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no! Amy and I have more work to do. No, we’re going to take you to a place in Cardiff. You’ll be safe there for now. Last place they’d look, etc. When I come again, we’ll put you in an even safer place. That’s what Jack wants, you know. He wants you safe.”


	4. The Preparations

At the warehouse informally christened Hub 2, Ianto Jones watched Lois’ writing and translated the shorthand as efficiently as he did everything else. Part of his mind was busy wondering about Jack. Jack had disappeared a while ago and Ianto was worried. He didn’t think Jack had fully recovered from being sealed in concrete. Gwen and Rhys pretty much assumed that no lasting harm was done to Jack by anything, but Ianto knew better. Jack had been claustrophobic ever since Grey. He couldn’t stay in his cubbyhole longer than five minutes; he slept in Ianto’s flat with a window open now, no matter what the weather. Ianto had bought a tarp for under the bedroom window to allow for the Cardiff rains. 

Clem was pacing around muttering, distracting Ianto. Lois’ hand faltered as everyone she could see looked dumbfounded at the tank. Finally, she wrote in clear text: “10%. We want 10%. We want 10% of the children of this world.” It was a good thing he didn’t need to translate, because he didn’t think he could form words. 

Clem’s muttering became audible. “They want to take them, like they did before. Like the man did!” 

They all turned to him. He hadn’t seen the screen, so how did he know? “What man, Clem?” Gwen asked, her voice wavering. 

“He’s coming back,” Clem said, sniffing the air like a trapped animal. “He’s coming back!” 

“Who, Clem?” Gwen tried again. “Who is it? Who is coming back?” 

Clem’s voice began to rise in pitch. “He's coming. He's coming. He's coming.” Hysteria was making him shout now. “He's coming! He's coming! He's coming!” Clem pointed at the shadows. 

After a moment, Jack stepped into the light. His face was ghastly pale and his eyes were dark caverns. He stood straight as though at attention, but Ianto, alert to every nuance of Jack’s appearance, could see the slight trembling in his hands. He moved toward him, but Jack held him off with a look that was both stern and anxious. The rest of his face stayed impassive as he faced Clem. 

“He hasn’t changed,” Clem said, his voice back down to a whimper. “He’s the same, the same, the same! All those years. How can he be the same?” 

Gwen spoke up. “What's he talking about, Jack?” 

Jack said quietly, “I remember. Clement MacDonald. You sat in the middle of the bus. You didn’t talk to any of the others. You were afraid. Of all of the children, you were the only one who was scared.” 

“You were there? In 1965?” 

Typical Gwen. Asking the obvious, Ianto thought. Couldn’t she tell how tightly wound Jack was? How close to breaking down? 

“I didn’t want to go,” Clem half-sobbed. “I didn’t want an adventure. That’s what he called it. An adventure.” 

Jack didn’t reply. His head lowered. “Yes,” he whispered. 

“He was the man!” Clem insisted. 

“No, no,” Gwen’s voice came soothingly. “He was there to fight them. This is what he does. He fights aliens, isn't that right, Jack?” 

“Not then.” 

“Then what were you doing there?” 

“I gave them the kids.” Jack’s voice was even quieter. He was swaying on his feet now and Ianto stepped forward. Jack continued in the same monotone. “In 1965, I gave them twelve children.” 

Gwen paled with evident shock and horror. “What for?” she demanded harshly. Ianto took another step toward Jack. 

“As a gift.” 

“Stop it, Gwen,” Ianto said firmly. He took hold of Jack by the shoulders, stepping in between his lover and the others. Jack raised haunted eyes to him and Ianto tugged him gently into an embrace. By now, Jack’s slight trembles had moved into actual shivering. His skin felt clammy against Ianto’s cheek. 

So softly that none of the others could hear, Jack murmured, “There are two of me and I don’t know which one is real. My past… my present... they’re here…” 

Clem’s voice again, agitated and bitter. “You are in every nightmare I’ve ever had.” A scuffling noise came from behind him. Jack’s grip suddenly tightened and Ianto found himself shoved hard to one side. “No!” Jack cried. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I –“ 

The crack of a pistol stopped Jack’s words. 

________________________________________

The Doctor sighed. He’d deposited Alice and her son Stephen in a hotel near some nondescript estate housing in Cardiff. They would be all right for now. He was glad that he had a never-ending supply of psychic paper. It always got a workout when he was molding the past into the correct present. 

As the TARDIS took the small hop into the fourth day of the invasion, the Doctor’s thoughts turned to the Companion he had treated so unfairly. He could tell himself all he liked that Jack made him sick to look at, but it wasn’t the whole truth. The Doctor knew the reality was that he was bone-deep afraid of Jack Harkness and what his existence meant. 

A human that could not die was something outside of his experience, and his experience was vast. He didn’t understand how the TARDIS could have made Jack so, even with the Time Vortex. It wasn’t supposed to work that way. Beings of any kind were meant to move steadily forward and then perish. None of them should be a fixed point. 

That was not the only peculiarity of Jack’s existence. From the moment the Doctor had first encountered Jack, he had been aware of the time energy that saturated him. All time travelers retained a certain amount of the Void substance they acquired while passing through, but Jack had more than that. Every cell in his body was integrated with Time. All the Vortex had needed to do was to change those cells to reset themselves. 

The Universe was changing. The Doctor could feel it moving. That probably meant Jack Harkness was feeling it too, and more strongly. 

“Are we there yet?” Amy’s voice brought him out of his disturbing thoughts. 

“We’re here.” 

“Where do we need to go?” 

“For this, we aren’t leaving the TARDIS. I just have a phone call to make.” He strode over to the telephone and coughed, clearing his throat. His ship had researched as well as she could – he stopped to give her a soothing caress – and found a phone number and person who would call it. James Frobisher. The Doctor had to alter his voice. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at his mouth and dialed the number. 

“Yes, sir?” 

The female voice was harsh, cold, and respectful. He spoke, his voice sounding very odd to his ears. “Call off the search for Carter and the boy. I’ve located the Captain.” 

“Where?” 

The Doctor gave her the address of the warehouse. “Use his team as hostages. He will do nothing to endanger them.” 

“Are you sure?” The deference was still there, but the tone was skeptical. 

“Positive.” In for a penny, in for a pound, the Doctor thought. Might as well leave Jack some comfort. “Don’t separate him from Jones. He won’t risk anything happening to him, especially if it’s something he can see.” 

“Ah. I have the cells prepared. The Captain will stay docile. Johnson out.” 

Amy harrumphed. “What was that all about? And what happened to your voice?” 

He put the screwdriver back into his pocket. “I had to sound like someone who could give that scary woman orders.” 

“You were talking to a scary woman?” 

“She’s going to take Jack and his team into custody, where they won’t interfere with what’s going to happen until the right time. She won’t hurt them – they’re too valuable alive.” 

“Why aren’t you just bringing them all on the TARDIS?” 

The Doctor shook his head violently. “That wouldn’t do at all. We have to move Jack along without his knowing about it. Later. We’ll bring him on later.” 

“So, what next?” 

“We’re going to sit here for a bit to give the TARDIS time to rest. We’re going to watch to make sure there’s no trouble when Jack and crew are taken. Can’t afford to risk innocent bystanders at this juncture. Butterfly effect and all that. And then you are going to go visit a very cautious woman in Cardiff.”


	5. The Capture

Jack knew he should be used to the agonizing pain that accompanied each resurrection, but this was like nothing he’d ever felt. The pain was worse – far worse than he was used to. The Voice was trying to calm him, but it was fading. Obscure images were swirling around in his head, strange dream-like memories of places he had never seen and people he had never met. Anguished loneliness filled him. He didn’t want to breathe, didn’t want to return to the empty existence that he half-remembered… 

His chest burned and he took a gasping breath. When he did, strong arms tightened around him. He clutched at the arms, knowing that they would soothe him. A quiet murmur slowed the frantic beating of his heart. “Easy, Jack. I’m here.” It gave him the courage to open his eyes. 

Ianto’s blue eyes were solemn, but beautiful. So beautiful. Jack wanted to cry for the beauty of them. “Ianto,” he whispered. 

There was an inarticulate cry and Jack looked toward it, still gripping Ianto’s arms. Gwen was reaching toward Clem, speaking quietly. “This is normal, this is what he does. See? Ianto knew it was going to be okay.” 

The man stared at her and backed away. “No, no!” 

An explosion made all of them jump. Jack deftly rolled so that Ianto was beneath him, while shouting, “Down! All of you!” 

Part of the wall had fallen in and through the hole came men in black uniforms that quickly surrounded each of them. The men around him had their guns trained at Ianto’s head, visible from under Jack’s shoulder. Someone said, “I would advise everyone to keep perfectly still.” 

Jack recognized that voice. It was the one he’d heard just before the concrete had come pouring down on him. Whoever this woman was, she was ruthless. “Do as she says!” he barked to them all. 

The men in front of him parted but did not change the aim of their weapons. Jack finally got a good look at her. All in black, with black hair and dangerous black eyes. “Well, Captain,” she said, “You really are difficult to keep track of.” 

Jack didn’t answer. With that many guns pointed at Ianto, he wasn’t taking any chances. “Nothing to say?” she asked. “No, I guess you wouldn’t. All right, Captain, I want you to move – very slowly – off your companion there. I haven’t seen him before, so he must have been the one being clever with the forklift.” 

Jack kissed the cheek his face was against and felt a lessening of tension in Ianto’s body. Very carefully, he eased himself off Ianto, keeping his body movements slow and obvious. Ianto watched him while he was watching Ianto. Neither of them looked anywhere else. All Jack wanted to see was the life in those eyes. He didn’t know why it was so important, but it was. 

“Well, well,” she said. “Aren’t you the pretty thing?” 

Jack saw the blush staining Ianto’s cheeks. He smiled without taking his eyes away from Ianto’s. “I have really good taste.” Ianto smiled back at him. In spite of the severity of their situation, Jack felt like singing. 

“All right, both of you up on your feet. You first, Captain. Slowly.” 

When they were both upright, their hands were cuffed behind them. Gwen, Rhys, and Clem were similarly restrained. “My men have your boy toy in their sights, Captain. Let’s go, shall we?” 

________________________________________

Amy watched the screen as the people were herded out of the warehouse. “Who are they?” she asked. 

The Doctor froze the image and pointed. “That one’s the Captain. The one wearing the coat.” 

“Wow. He’s… I mean… wow.” 

“He has that effect on people. The woman is Gwen Cooper. She’s Torchwood, along with the Captain. The man in the suit is also Torchwood. Ianto Jones. The one I mentioned in the phone call.” 

She felt her face fall. “Why is it that the good-looking ones are always playing for the other team?” 

“What?” 

“Nothing.” She pointed. “Who are the other two men?” 

“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen them.” The Doctor started the screen moving again. The handcuffed group was put into a truck and it drove away. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s Jack safe, at least for now.” 

“Seems to me you’ve put him in more trouble.” 

To her surprise, the Doctor laughed. “Jack is always in some sort of trouble. That’s how he thrives. If there wasn’t trouble, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself.” 

“And that was the scary woman?” 

The Doctor gave Amy a serious look. “She is cold and somewhat cruel, but she’s not a fool. She won’t hurt any of them because they are the only way she has to control Jack. That’s what her job is. To control Jack.” 

“So that’s why you led the soldiers here.” 

“To keep Jack and the others safe.” 

Amy shook her head. “I’ll never learn to follow your logic. Ok, so what’s next? We bring down the government? We bomb Parliament? We go to the alien ship? What?” 

“Cardiff, remember? You need to get a very suspicious woman to listen to your advice.” He grinned at her. “You can do that, right?” 

________________________________________

Gwen Cooper Williams looked at the tan jumpsuit with distaste. They’d been instructed to change into them and Jack had insisted that they cooperate. The guards were even taking their shoes, giving them thin ill-fitting slippers instead, like the disposable ones you got in hospital that did nothing to cut the chill from the concrete floor. Rhys was standing in front of her, bless him, so the guards wouldn’t get a peep show. Not that she really cared. Most of her attention was on Jack, waiting for a signal that they should do something. Anything. 

However, Jack didn’t look well. Ianto was helping him get redressed, slowly and carefully. She’d known something was very wrong in the truck that transported them here. Jack didn’t speak, just rested his head on Ianto’s shoulder. What was wrong with him? 

She knew that Ianto would take care of him; Ianto always took care of Jack. What had surprised her was the way Jack took care of Ianto the same way. She hadn’t thought Jack was capable of so deep of an emotion. He was always so cavalier, flirting with anything that had a pulse. She had even thought he fancied her at one time. She admitted that had been exciting, but even then Jack hadn’t seemed to really pay the same kind of attention to her as he did to Ianto. 

It was all right now though. She had lovable gentle Rhys, whom she loved from the top of his head to the tippy-tip of his toes. She cared deeply about both her teammates, but as friends, not potential lovers. Just now she was concerned about Jack as their leader. He seemed resigned, like there was no fight in him. 

One of the soldiers was gathering their clothes when Ianto’s voice challenged him. “Leave Jack his coat.” 

Johnson stepped toward him. “Don’t be ridiculous.” 

Ianto met her glare for glare. “Jack is cold. His skin is clammy. Unless you have enough blankets to make another one out of and are willing to give me a pair of scissors, a needle, and some thread, he needs that coat to keep warm.” 

“This is a trick.” 

“For God’s sake!” Ianto sounded angrier than Gwen had ever heard. “It’s just a bloody coat! To keep him warm! You blew him into tiny pieces, watched while he reassembled in agonizing pain and then encased him in concrete while he screamed. He’s ill from that! Just because he can’t stay dead doesn’t mean he can’t be sick. I bought that coat yesterday and it’s harmless. What do you think we are? You destroyed the Hub. Any gadgetry we had disappeared then. It’s only a coat.” 

Gwen saw Johnson’s face change. Maybe this woman wasn’t completely heartless, or maybe Ianto’s defiance had impressed her. Regardless of what it was, she said, “We’ll examine it thoroughly and if it is harmless, I’ll bring it to you.” 

Ianto didn’t look happy but must have realized that was all he was going to get. Jack smiled and seemed to relax. Gwen still watched for some sign that they were to do something, but Jack didn’t look at her. She took Clem’s hand as the guards approached. With guns prodding at them, they moved into a corridor lined with doors. Johnson told them to stop in front of one. 

“I want to make clear what’s going to happen if you try to escape – any of you. These cells have been specially prepared. They are airtight. We have cameras watching you and they will be continuously monitored.” She opened the door. It looked like just a cell to Gwen. After giving them time to look, Johnson pulled the door shut and locked it. She continued, “There are vents for sufficient air flow. At the first suspicious move, however, my people are going to react like this. Go, Richards.” 

The man addressed pressed a button on the device he was holding. A cloud of green-yellow gas poured from a vent in the ceiling of the cell. “That’s a lethal concentration of chlorine gas. It won’t hurt us, but it will kill anyone in the cell in seconds. It isn’t a very pleasant way to die.” 

Gwen recognized the color. She wasn’t surprised when Jack said quickly, “No one is going to try anything. Gwen, Rhys, Clem, cooperate fully. Do you understand?” 

She didn’t like it, but she agreed. She did say, “Clem isn’t stable. He may do something, but he isn’t trying to make trouble.” 

“We’ll sedate him,” Johnson said, still in her cold dry voice. She led them to the next set of doors. “All right, Cooper and Williams in here. Just a little insurance for Cooper’s good behavior. Your Captain and his lover will be right next door. We’ll put this one in opposite you.” 

Before Gwen could protest, Jack reached over and squeezed her hand. Ianto was right; his skin was icy. “Don’t do anything stupid, Gwen. I can’t lose you. Do what they tell you, okay?” 

Gwen sighed. It went against her nature to remain passive, but she couldn’t see a way out without risking Rhys’ life. She managed a smile. “I’ll do it for you, Jack. Don’t worry about us.”


	6. The Children

With her hand raised to knock on the back door of an estate house in Cardiff, Amy took another steadying breath. She checked again to make sure she had everything, and then completed the knock. With a shouted “Quiet, you lot!” the door was opened – but not by the woman she expected to see. This was a man. A very large man. “Who are you?” he demanded.

Johnny, maybe? That was her husband’s name. “Hello, Mr. Davies. My name’s Amelia Pond.” She gave him a smile. “I’d like to see Rhiannon, please.”

He didn’t become any less belligerent. “What for? She’s busy.”

“I’ve a message for her.” Amy used the charms she had formerly used as a Kiss-o-gram girl. “I’ll only be a minute, really. Please.”

Apparently the charm was working. He opened the door enough to let her step inside. “Rhi!” he bellowed. “Someone ta see ya!”

“Coming!” was the answer. Amy could hear lots of children’s voices, singing, laughing, talking, and squabbling. A dark-haired woman came into the room. Her husband went back into the other, again giving a bellow. “Hold it down, kids! Give me a pain, all o’ ya.”

The woman rolled her eyes in a way that Amy had never been able to emulate. Only a few of her friends could, and they all came from Wales. Obviously, it was genetic. “Sorry, it’s a bit of Bedlam in there. Now,” she said, her eyes narrowing, “who are you and what do you want? You’re not from here.”

This was it then. “I was told to tell you Non-yo sent me.” She prayed that the information the Doctor had given her was accurate.

Rhiannon looked at her searchingly, her lips pressed together. After a minute, she took hold of Amy’s arm and pulled her to a door opposite the one she’d come out of. It led to a laundry room. Once inside she closed the door and turned on an overhead bulb. She crossed her arms and demanded, “What do you know about Ianto? Where is he? What’s going on?”

“First, he’s alive and all right.” Amy knew she had to get Rhiannon’s trust and that was the most important thing to tell her. “I saw him in London, just a couple of hours ago. He still has that gash on his cheek, but he’s otherwise fine.”

Rhiannon relaxed some but she was still wary. “What’s he doing there?”

Amy had prepared for this question. “Right now he’s in protective custody. There are people trying to kill him, so he has to stay undercover.”

“And his… that Captain…?”

“Captain Harkness is with him, Mrs. Davies. He won’t let anything happen to Ianto. I’ve seen them.”

She was wavering. “And what did he tell you?”

Another deep breath. Amy sincerely hoped this would work. “He told me that someone would be coming to try and take the children, but we need to stop them. You and your husband and your children will need to go somewhere safe. I can guide you there.”

The walls slammed back into place and the progress Amy had made was gone. “Where? How do I know you’re not one of them that’s going to take the kids?”

“I’m not. Believe me, all I want to do is keep you and your family from harm. That’s why Ianto told me to use that name you called him when he was a baby. He wants you to let me help you.” God, she was turning into a good liar. Amy wasn’t sure that she liked that idea.

Again, there were signs that Rhiannon was softening. “But what about the rest of the kids? I can’t just leave them. I’m taking care of them.”

Instant decision time. Amy made one. “We’ll get them all out. Every one of them. Just be ready. Tomorrow morning very early, around 7:00. I’ll come here and we’ll go. No questions asked, ok?”

There was a moment’s hesitation and then Rhiannon nodded. “We’ll be ready. You’d best go now. They’re watching the house.”

________________________________________

Jack was shaking so hard he would have tumbled off the bench bed had Ianto not been holding him. Everything was so out of focus. If he concentrated, he could see the cell and his surroundings, but underneath were other images – the warehouse, houses he didn’t know, mobile phones, guns – and those hurt to remember. The sound of the cell door brought him to here and now. Without thinking he put himself between Ianto and whatever was coming in.

There were two guards on either side and the woman – Johnson, Ianto had told him – carrying something in the middle. His coat. The one Ianto had found for him. Ianto stood and took the coat from her. “Thank you,” he said.

“It’s as you said. Just a coat. Remember your warnings.”

“We remember.”

Jack didn’t notice them leaving because Ianto wrapped the coat around him, easing his arms into the sleeves. It was blessedly warm and helped him hold onto the present. This present. Not the shadow present he felt stalking him.

Ianto urged him to lie down. Jack eyed the bench warily. “Will we fit?”

“It’s three inches wider than your camp bed and about six inches longer,” Ianto said firmly.

Jack wanted to giggle, which made him wonder if he was hysterical. That was his Ianto, excellent at measuring distances without a rule or tape. His Ianto. _Mihn tesaoro._ My treasure, in the language of Boeshane. “I want to tell you,” he said.

Ianto lay down and Jack opened the coat to cover him as well. The coat was warm, but Ianto was warmer. Jack draped himself across him so that he could listen for the steady heartbeat while he tried to explain what had happened all those years ago.

“In July of 1965, I was summoned to Torchwood 2 for a special project. No one would tell me anything about it, so I went in blind. When I got there, I found out that the British government had made a deal with some aliens after negotiating through Torchwood London.” He covered Ianto’s hand with his own and pulled it closer. “Even before Yvonne, that place was trouble.” He brushed his lips across Ianto’s knuckles. “You were the only good thing to ever come out of there.”

Jack felt the chuckle in Ianto’s chest. “There are mixed opinions on that.”

“Yeah, but I’m the expert,” Jack replied. “Apparently, these aliens claimed to be offering an anti-virus for a deadly flu that they said was about to break out. Indonesian flu. If what they said was true, it would be worse than the Spanish flu after World War One. So many people died then, Ianto. Six per cent of the world’s population.”

“I’ve read about it. My Mam-gu told me she lost an aunt and three cousins to it.”

“Given the state of the world, it would have been disastrous. Vietnam, the Cold War, all that. The Americans still hadn’t properly recovered from the assassination of President Kennedy or the Korean War. Add a plague into it and the entire human race might have gone mad.”

“Since that didn’t happen, what did?”

“The aliens, the ones we’re calling the 456, asked a price for the anti-virus that the government and Torchwood London agreed to. I never would have agreed, Ianto. I swear I wouldn’t.”

“What price, Jack?”

Jack was relieved to feel Ianto’s arms tighten around him. He was still half-afraid that Ianto would reject him when he knew the full story, but at least he was supporting Jack so far. “They wanted twelve children. Twelve healthy children between three and twelve years old. That was the price. They chose them from a remote Scottish orphanage. Twelve kids. They wanted me to deliver them to the place they’d agreed on. They thought… they thought I wouldn’t care.” He had to stop. The shame and guilt were choking him.

Ianto’s arms pulled him as close as possible and he felt Ianto kissing him through his hair. “They obviously didn’t know you, Jack. Not at all.”

He took very deep breaths and got himself under control. “I refused. I told them what they could do with their ‘bargain’ and tried to leave. Vanessa and Heath were the Torchwood London representatives. Heath said if I wouldn’t take the twelve, the army would take every child in the orphanage out there and hand them over. Over a hundred children. So, I agreed.” He stopped again.

Again, Ianto’s hands stroked and soothed him. “You had no choice, Jack.”

“I did, but the choices were all bad. I took the one that seemed the least horrible. I was told that the children would not be harmed, so I gave the children to them and they gave the anti-virus to us. It worked, too. The outbreaks were small and easily contained when they should have been horrendous.” Jack took a few more deep breaths. “I… I wasn’t…”

Ianto caught hold of Jack’s hand and kissed it gently. “You were hurting.”

“Yeah.” No words of condemnation, no false platitudes, no condescending pity. Ianto wouldn’t give him those, thank heavens. Just a simple acknowledgement of his pain.

Familiar lips touched his and Jack sighed into them. A moment later he opened his eyes to look into Ianto’s. It was there. Acceptance. The thing that Ianto gave him that no one else ever had. Jack couldn’t quite smile yet, but he whispered, “We’re okay? Yeah?”

“Yeah, we’re okay,” Ianto answered. “We aren’t finished, but we’re okay.” Jack received another gentle kiss. “Sleep,” Ianto instructed him. “You died. I’m here and you can rest. Go to sleep.”

They were okay. Ianto was here. Jack slept.

________________________________________

“Twenty!” the Doctor shouted. “You can’t be serious!”

Amy stood her ground. “You were the one who said I needed to get her trust.”

“Ergo, you agreed to shelter twenty children instead of two?”

“It may not be quite twenty, but I didn’t exactly have time to count them, now did I?”

“I told you to…”

“Doesn’t matter what you told me, Doctor! You said the most important thing was for her to trust me. She wasn’t going to if I told her to just leave the others behind. Don’t you get that?”

They were glaring at each other across the console. The Doctor looked like he wanted to say more, but a shudder from the TARDIS distracted him. “We’re coming up to a crisis, I think,” he said, stroking the central column. “The next in the series. Do you feel it, too?” he asked Amy.

“If you mean feeling wound so tight I could scream and wanting to break every pane of glass in town just to hear the smash sound, then, yeah, I feel it.”


	7. The Thames House Massacre

_You need to get out. Away from here. Away from the virus._

_“Too late. I breathed the air.”_

_NO! Jack lunged for Ianto as he fell. No, no, no!_

_“I love you.”_

_Don’t! You’re giving up! Stay with me! You can’t go! Jack shook him. Stay here! No! It’s all my fault._

_“No, it’s not”._

_Don’t speak, save your breath._

_“Don’t forget me.”_

_I won’t. I won’t because you’re going to be here. You’re going to stay with me. Don’t go! Jack looked into those blue eyes and saw their light fade. NO! NO!_

“Jack! Jack!”

Jack woke up with a start and stared down at Ianto. Ianto’s eyes. Ianto’s open, alive eyes. He was here!

To make sure, Jack kissed him with a ferocity that he hadn’t used since the time he had pulled a broken-necked Ianto out of the Hub pool the night of the Cyberwoman attack. He poured his life force into Ianto – all that energy that kept Jack returning from death time after time after time – and felt Ianto’s strong vital spirit flowing into him as well. The music swelled and the lights glowed and they danced together in perfect harmony.

Until they had to breathe.

They broke apart with gasps. Ianto looked somewhat startled and very thoroughly kissed. “Um, Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“What just happened?”

“I kissed you. And you kissed me back.”

“It was… intense.”

“But good, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Ianto smiled and Jack felt lighter. “Good. Really good. Really, really good.”

“I think…” Jack said, snuggling back down to get his ear over Ianto’s heart, “I think… something bad was supposed to happen. But it didn’t. We’re here. We’re safe.”

________________________________________

The TARDIS was feeling somewhat better. The paradox was still burning her, but she knew they had passed one of the worst crises. Her Champion had not had his soul ripped away. He still had his One. She wanted to meet his One. Only someone truly remarkable could capture the heart and mind of a Champion.

She had taken her Lord and Amy Pond to another place in London. Moving these small distances didn’t hurt as much. She rested here, but her Lord was agitated as he watched events unfold on his screen. Distress came off him in waves, though he was trying to dampen it for her sake.

“It’s horrible,” Amy whispered. “All those people! Why wasn’t the building evacuated?”

“Because the people in charge don’t have a brain cell to share between them,” the Doctor snarled. He was angry as well as upset. The TARDIS tried to soothe him, but she was still weak. He noticed and cooed to her. “I’m sorry you had to feel that, but you’re better now, yes? The pain is less?” She responded to his touch and he smiled.

Amy stroked her, too, and she was soothed. She tried to show how much she appreciated it. Amy spoke to the Doctor. “What happened in there?”

“The 456 needed a show of force. To prove they mean what they say. The negotiations have to be on their terms.”

“It’s so cruel.”

The TARDIS tried to project sympathy even as she felt the coldness from her Lord. His voice was harsh when he spoke. “Time is cruel, Amy. Some people get more time than they should. Some get less. You have to make choices and those choices are not nice clean ones. Suppose you were a firefighter and there were five people in a burning house. You have time to save two of them, but not the rest. Do you waste time wobbling about it? No, you save who you can when you can. That’s what I’m working on. I could possibly have saved those people, but in doing so, I would have sacrificed millions of lives and the future of the human race.”

Amy slid down under the console, holding her knees. The TARDIS sent waves of healing, but she was so tired. Her Lord got down on his knees as well. “I’m sorry, Amy Pond. Most people who travel with me don’t have to suffer what you are suffering. I wish I could help you, but this is what I must do.”

“I’m okay,” Amy said, even though the TARDIS knew she wasn’t. “I know you’re doing the best you can. Just… give me a minute, will you?”

The ship had continued its scans and now zoomed in on something her Lord needed to know. She sounded one of her alarms. The Doctor jumped back up to the screen. “What is it, girl?”

“What?” Amy stood up. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, no! No, no, no! They’re supposed to be in Switzerland!” He froze the screen with a touch. It was focused on two people on the wrong side of that locked glass door. The TARDIS had recognized them, both former Companions. He would need to know they were there and what they were doing. Mickey Smith and Martha Jones. Martha was especially dear to her. She had played an important role in rescuing her from the torture of the Paradox Machine.

Amy caught hold of the Doctor as he staggered against her. “Who are they, Doctor?”

“Two of my former Companions. They were killed here, even though they were alive when I saw them. But we’re changing things. But Jack will need them to… That’s why…” He dashed back to the console and began flicking switches again. “Hold on, Amy! We need to back up again. We’ll have to be very careful not to run into ourselves.”

“What?”

“Again, it’s one of those timey-wimey things. I changed Jack’s future but forgot about the others. Must be getting old. Now, I have to go back and fix this as well. Oh, and Sarah Jane! Must be sure about Sarah Jane and Luke.”

“Who?” Amy felt like she was back in a journalism class. “Where?”

“Thank the stars she’s feeling better. All right, girl. We’re depending on you.”

________________________________________

Doctor Martha Jones felt a dizzying wave of disorientation, as if the world around her had suddenly shifted. She frowned to concentrate. She and Mickey were on the outskirts of London, looking for a convenient car to “borrow”. She clutched at Mickey’s arm and shook her head to clear it.

“What’s wrong, Doc?” Mickey said, slipping his arm around her shoulders.

Martha managed a faint smile at the endearment. “Nothing really, Mr. Mouse. Just felt a little funny for a second. Over now.”

“Good.” He released her and went back to scanning the nearby area. “Where’s an old car when you need one? Something without a built-in alarm. I hate those things.”

She pointed. “Blue one there?”

“Oh, yeah.”

After checking the interior, Mickey pulled something out of his pocket and began working on the door. Martha stood a few steps back to watch her new husband. Nice way to spend a honeymoon, she thought. Motor vehicle theft.

Her phone vibrated against her pocket. She checked the name. Sandra Holloway, one of her friends still at UNIT. Martha didn’t regret resigning from that organization. Most of the people there were not the sort she wanted to associate herself with, but Sandy was an all right girl. “Hello?” she said.

Sandy’s voice came over the line, but it sounded a little strange to Martha’s ears. Since her time with the Doctor, Martha’s senses had sharpened, and she was aware of sounds in a way she had never been before; but it had been some time since she’d talked to Sandy, and phone lines had a way of distorting voices. “Martha? I’m so glad I found you. Something’s going on here. Something big and terrible. And Torchwood seems to be in the middle of it.”

Martha didn’t tell her she already knew that. When Jack had asked her and Mickey to come work for Torchwood after the honeymoon, he had given them a link to the Hub on their computer. When it went dead, she had checked and found out about the explosion. It had taken them a couple of days to make their way stealthily to England. “What have you got?” she asked.

“General Oduya is going spare. All the higher-ups are in a tizzy about something. We put our ears to the grapevine and heard a few things. I know you’re friends with that Jack Harkness person. The British government is trying to kill him.”

“What?” Martha hoped that didn’t sound as loud as she thought it did. Mickey turned to look at her. She gestured him over and they both listened.

“Yeah, that’s the story. There’s a kill order out on him. And the others in Torchwood. One of those top-secret special ops teams is on it. They blew up their headquarters.”

“There’s a rumor that Jack can’t be killed.” Martha knew it was true, of course. She didn’t want to give it away to someone else.

“Well, they sure tried. Oduya is mad as hell about it. He wanted to get Torchwood involved. There’s something going on with aliens, but no one’s sure what. The ministers are keeping mum about it. Torchwood and Harkness are the alien experts, right?”

“Yeah, they are.”

“Well, the buzz is that they didn’t kill him, but he and his team are prisoners at Aston Downs. I don’t know if Oduya is trying to get them out or not. Anyway, I thought you would want to know. Maybe go and take a look?”

Mickey made a cutting motion and Martha nodded. “Thanks for the update. Gotta go now.” She disconnected and looked at Mickey. “Choice time. What do you think we should do?”

He scowled. “We can either go investigate that Thames House rumor, or rescue Jack and crew from Aston. Not both.” He sighed. “The way I look at it is we’d better go get Captain Cheesecake and Co out of jail. He may know something we don’t.”

Martha nodded, echoing his sigh. “That’s what I’m thinking, too. We’re flying nearly blind here.”

As Mickey got the car running, she thought back to Sandra’s voice. It was definitely different from what she remembered, but she trusted it all the same. Oh, well, she told herself. Maybe Sandy has a cold or something.


	8. The Backup

Amy looked at the light green car in the driveway and the spire on top of the house. This was the correct place, all right, but once again she had no idea what she was going to say. This was a different proposition from Rhiannon Davies. Here she had nothing to back her up except for a blank piece of paper that the Doctor had given her just before he put her in the taxi. It added to her nerves that the Doctor had spoken with such reverence when he said Sarah Jane’s name.

She also admitted to herself that she was nervous being this far from the Doctor and the TARDIS. Oddly enough, the ship was clearly feeling better after its backward hop. Amy took it to mean that they were still on the right path. She hoped the Doctor had accomplished his part. He’d seemed so upset before. It shook her to see him displaying that much emotion.

“All right, Amelia Pond,” she said out loud. “Time for you to face the lioness in her den.” She walked up the driveway with a determined step and rang the bell.

It seemed a very long time before she heard a voice through the speaker above the bell. “Who are you?” a female voice demanded.

“My name’s Amy,” she told the speaker. “Amy Pond. I need to speak with Sarah Jane Smith. It’s very important.”

“Who sent you here?” The voice was not exactly welcoming.

Unlike with Rhiannon, Amy decided honesty was the best policy here. “The Doctor sent me. I’m a… Companion.” That’s was what the Doctor had called the others. Amy had heard the capital in his voice.

The voice came back, this time uncertain. “Can you prove that?”

“I don’t know,” Amy said. “He gave me a sheet of paper to show you. It’s blank, so I don’t know why.”

A moment later the door was opened, but only until a chain on the inside stopped it. “Give it to me,” the woman (Sarah Jane Smith, Amy hoped) said. All she could see was a hand. The door shut and Amy looked around. What was she going to do if this didn’t work? Find an unlocked window?

The door opened, this time wide. A woman stood there with the paper in her hand. “Come in quickly, Amy Pond.”

Amy wasted no time in obeying. “Thank you, Miss Smith,” she said sincerely. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t something terribly important.”

“It’s Sarah Jane. Can I call you Amy?” The woman was smiling, albeit not widely. “I don’t think we have time for formality. This is a note from the Doctor. It’s on psychic paper so that no one else can read it. He says what you have to tell me is both urgent and unpleasant. Shall we sit?” Amy nodded and followed her through. As they walked, Sarah Jane called out, “Luke, it’s all right. Come out.”

A boy of about fourteen or fifteen came out of what Amy supposed was the kitchen area. “Mum?” he said. “Who’s this?”

“Amy Pond. She’s from the Doctor.” Sarah Jane led her to a sunny room full of overstuffed furniture – the parlor, Amy guessed – and waited until Amy made herself comfortable on the couch with Luke beside her. Settling herself in one of the two facing armchairs, Sarah Jane said, “Now, Amy, is what you’re about to tell us concerned with this crisis?”

She didn’t pretend to not know what Sarah Jane was talking about. “Yes. It’s about the 456. The aliens.”

“That’s what they’re called then.”

“Yes, except that it’s just the human name for them. The Doctor doesn’t know what they call themselves. He’s never encountered them before now.”

“Rare for the Doctor.”

“He said that, too. He also said you were probably investigating it. Are you?”

“As much as I can.” Sarah Jane looked as though she’d made a decision. “Come upstairs with me.”

Amy found herself in a nice loft. The only jarring note was a very large computer with panels sticking out of one wall. She watched as Sarah Jane went to the face the screen. “Mr. Smith, do you have any progress to report?”

The smooth voice that answered her startled Amy. It wasn’t in the least mechanical. “I’m sorry, Sarah Jane. The ship is staying on the dark side of the moon. I cannot get an accurate estimate of its size except that it extends miles, at least.”

“Mr. Smith, this is Amy Pond. She has more data for you.” Sarah Jane gestured for Amy to join her. “Just talk to him.”

“Okay, here’s what I know.” Amy felt odd explaining everything to a computer. On the other hand, she didn’t really want to see the faces around her as she related the details of the 456 and their demands. Finally, she had to look. Shock and horror were reflected there, just as she anticipated.

“Is the Doctor stopping them?” Sarah Jane demanded when Amy stopped talking.

“That’s why I’ve come.” Amy looked around to find a place to sit. She was exhausted from the narration and anxiety. “He told me that you would be looking into this. And he told me to tell you to stop.”

Sarah Jane sat guided her to an old sofa and Luke sat on the floor, watching her with his intelligent dark eyes. “How old are you, Luke?” Amy asked.

A look was exchanged between the other two. “Fifteen,” he said cautiously.

“Then I guess you’ll be all right. What the Doctor is trying to do is… well, you’re not going to like it.”

“What is it?” Sarah asked, more gently this time.

It was suddenly all too much. Tears leaked out of Amy’s eyes. “We have to let them take the children.”

“WHAT?” Luke and Sarah Jane shouted. Amy was pretty sure that Mr. Smith had shouted, too.

She sniffed and tried to hold back sobs. “It’s very important that the children be taken. Otherwise, the Universe will keep collapsing. Humanity will die out. It’s terrible!”

Amy found herself wrapped in two sets of arms while she cried. She strove to get herself under control. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to wipe her tears with a handkerchief that Luke produced. “I’m… it’s not…”

“Hush.” Sarah Jane said quietly. “Luke, go make us some tea. We’ll be down in a minute.”

Luke left and Sarah found tissues for Amy. “There’s no other way?” she asked.

Amy shook her head. “I’ve seen what’s happened if they are stopped. The Universe collapsing on itself. The TARDIS is still sick, even though we’ve gotten Torchwood safely out of harm’s way for now. And the Doctor said he would stop Mickey and Martha, too. That’s what he’s doing. He sent me to talk to you while he did.”

“Slow down a little, Amy. Let’s go downstairs and you can tell me.” Sarah Jane stood and helped Amy up. When they got to the door, Sarah Jane said, “Keep monitoring that ship, Mr. Smith. Also, see if you can locate Captain Harkness. Don’t do anything else until I come back.”

“Accessing records,” the computer replied.

By the time they were back in Sarah Jane’s parlor, Amy had gotten herself under control. They didn’t have time for her to fall apart, she reminded herself. Luke brought the tea and she was glad for the warm sweetness of it. When she was sure she could talk with her voice wavering, she said, “Torchwood stopped the aliens before – I mean, tomorrow. Tomorrow they would have stopped them. But it was wrong. One of them would have died and the Captain would have left Earth. But, he can’t. He’s one of the important people to set humans towards the stars, the Doctor said.”

“And no one else can stop them either?”

“No, they can’t. They mustn’t. It has to happen.”

“Why?” Luke asked simply.

“It’s all so awful, what will happen if we stop the 456.” Amy wanted to cry again, but she stopped herself ruthlessly. “I don’t want it to happen. But it has to.”

Sarah Jane thought it over. “But isn’t there something we can do? We can’t just sit here!”

Amy seized on this. “There is something. The government is cooperating with the aliens. They’re going to tell people that they are giving the kids inoculations. The Doctor is sending me to Cardiff in the morning to save a group of children. All you have to do is get them under cover. The Doctor says metal is best, but cement and sufficiently thick wood would be all right. Does your house have a basement? If it does, you could keep some children there. Just don’t let anyone in. Like soldiers. Don’t let take them. We can’t save all the children, but we can save a few.”

Luke jumped up. “My friend Rani! Her dad is headmaster of my school. I bet he’d know where the kids are around here.”

“Get him to come over here so we can talk to him,” Sarah Jane said. “Be careful. We should probably get Clyde and his mother here, too.” She glanced at Amy. “They are both post-pubescent, so there shouldn’t be any danger.”

“They only want pre-adolescents.” Amy stood up. “I have to go. The Doctor said it was better if I didn’t show myself to very many people. We’re… well, we’re changing the present so the future will be different. He said we have to be careful. Can you call me a taxi?”

“You’re a taxi,” Luke said promptly. He grinned. “Sorry, I’ve been waiting to do that for a while.”

Amy laughed, while Sarah Jane moved to the phone. “Thanks. It made me feel normal there for a minute.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “Help your mum, all right? This is going to be hard on everyone.”

“Sure. And if you get to talk to Captain Jack, tell him I’ll help, okay? I want to help.”

Amy left in a better frame of mind than she had when she went in.


	9. The Safety Guarantees

The sound of the door mechanism woke Jack and Ianto instantly. Jack placed himself firmly between Ianto and the door, backing up against the opposite wall so that by the time the door opened, they were nowhere near it. He was taking no chances with Ianto’s life. That vivid dream had disturbed him more than he let on. 

Johnson stood at the door, along with the three of her men, only this time one was a woman and they weren’t pointing their guns. “Very good, Captain,” she said. “You remembered.” 

“Did you bring us something to eat? We’re a bit hungry. Being a prisoner is hard work.” 

To his surprise, she laughed. “Too bad we’re on opposite sides, Captain. I think we’d work well together. But right now, Whitehall has said you’re an enemy of the state and that makes it my job to keep you safely contained.” 

“I’m flattered. Not.” 

Her face hardened again. “Come along.” 

Jack didn’t care whether she was amused by him or not. He turned to Ianto and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Don’t do anything silly,” he said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” 

Ianto touched his cheek. “Just try not to die, all right?” 

“I’ll do my best.” He spun and faced the woman. “Make sure Ianto is here alive and unhurt and I’ll do whatever you need.” 

“Then come.” 

Jack walked in front. They didn’t bother to keep guns on him, though they still carried them. When they reached some sort of control room, Johnson pointed at a screen showing a scene from outside. “There are two people approaching. We’ve been keeping a keen eye out since your miraculous escape. I think you may know them.” 

Jack looked carefully at a frozen image. His heart skipped a beat. Martha Jones and Mickey Smith. They must have left Switzerland. Why were they here? How did they find him? If he denied knowing them, they’d be killed, he was sure. At least if he said he did, it was possible that they would be taken alive to make more hostages for his good behavior. All in all, he’d rather have them alive. “Yeah, I know them. They’re old friends of mine. Freelancers. Martha used to be with UNIT, but she resigned.” 

“Important to you then?” 

“Yes. I owe both of them lives of my people.” 

“Do you think you can get them to surrender without risk? If not, we’ll kill them where they stand. We have snipers keeping them in sight right now.” 

“I’ll take care of it.” Jack was sure that if they knew his team members were hostages they’d give themselves up on the chance they could help from within. “What do you want me to do?” 

“I’ll leave that up to you. Just remember we have your cohorts under those gas vents and my soldiers have itchy fingers.” 

“I’m not likely to forget. Where is the access closest to Martha and Mickey?” 

“The one Jones made in our wall with his construction equipment.” 

“Okay, take me there.” 

They stopped in the corridor outside the door to what had been his cell, which was intact. Ianto had been very precise. Jack wasn’t surprised. He went into the room alone, but he was very aware of the eyes on him. The room was dark compared to the sunlight outside. Ianto had taken out some of the ceiling, but there was still a floor above it. He skirted the edges of the room, trying to stay out of sight. 

Once his eyes had somewhat adjusted to the sunlight, he stepped around the corner of the room, keeping himself in full view of the doorway behind him. He waited a couple of beats and then shouted. “Martha! Mickey! It’s a trap. Drop your weapons or they’ll kill you and my team.” 

A few seconds passed during which Jack held his breath. So many lives depending on this. Finally, he heard Mickey’s voice call, “How do we know they won’t kill us anyway?” 

“They want more hostages to keep me in line. As far as the government is concerned, the more the merrier. Please, Mickey, don’t risk anything for me. I’m not worth it. Ianto and Gwen are. Please.” 

More seconds passed before Mickey appeared around a large pile of dirt. He held his hands up and dropped his gun as soon as he was in sight. After another wait, in which no one shot at him, he gave a jerking motion with his head. Martha came out from behind the mound and dropped her weapon, too. They advanced toward Jack slowly. 

Jack realized his cheeks were damp. Wordlessly, he held out his arms. Martha broke into a run, keeping her hands out from her sides, and fell into them. “God, Jack,” she said breathlessly. “We knew the Hub was blown up with you inside. I thought I’d never see you again.” 

He held her tight. His emotions were mixed, half happy and relieved, the other half depressed and angry. “I’m sorry,” he said over and over. “I’m sorry.” 

Mickey had continued his slow walk. By the time he got to Jack, the soldiers had come out and were surrounding them. “Captain Cheesecake,” Mickey said with nonchalance that he probably didn’t feel. “We thought we’d drop by for a surprise visit. Didn’t exactly turn out the way we’d hoped.” 

“We were on our way to Thames House when we found out you were here,” Martha explained. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Jack said quietly. “You’re alive. That’s all I need. I’m sorry you came all this way for nothing, but for now, you’re safe. That’s the important thing. You’re safe.” 

The Doctor watched the screen to make sure Mickey and Martha were taken into custody. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Is it sorted then?” Amy asked from behind him. “The TARDIS seems better now.” 

“Sorted.” It was time to move on. He began checking the console. 

Amy put a hand on his arm, so he looked up at her. “There’s something I don’t understand,” she said. “Well, there’s a lot of somethings I don’t understand, but this one is bugging me.” 

“What?” 

“Why did you hide Alice and Stephen in Cardiff? Why not allow them to be brought here with Jack?” 

“Oh. Well, that. Yes.” The Doctor searched for any answer that would sound less terrible than the real one. It hadn’t been Jack’s fault at all, but the Doctor wanted to keep him well away from Stephen until the last crisis had been dealt with. Besides, what Jack had been forced to do before would horrify Amy and he didn’t need to traumatize her more than he already had. “Ah!” He’d found one. “Jack and Alice don’t exactly get along, you see. Long story, not really bad, but tedious. Distracting. Too distracting for now. Need Jack to focus.” 

Her raised eyebrow and small sneer let him know before she spoke that she wasn’t fooled. “You’re lying,” she said flatly. “What’s so bad you can’t tell me?” 

“If I could tell you that, I wouldn’t have to lie in the first place, would I?” He tried a charming smile. His was no patch on Jack’s, but the Doctor thought Amy might fall for it. 

“You’ve not mastered that look at all,” Amy replied. “Hand-caught-in-cookie-jar-charm might work on your mother, but not me. I’m as likely to smack you as to smile.” After a moment, she grinned. “Count your blessings that the smile won this time.” 

“I do,” he assured her. 

“Anyway, if you’re not going to tell me, all the asking in the world isn’t going to make you give it up. So, any more stray people we need to account for?” 

It was almost too much. “No, no more,” he said, trying in vain to keep the melancholy away. Amy reminded him often of his bright and wonderful Donna. Donna wouldn’t be trying to save the world, sadly. He’d had to pull the world-saving attitude out of her along with her Time Lord memories. He wondered if she would still meet that fellow she was going to marry in this new reality he was making. 

“All right then, where next?” 

Amy’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. Thank goodness for that. “Let’s see.” He checked the console. “Nothing in linear time for a few hours. I think… yes… I think it would be better to let the time elapse linearly than push the TARDIS any further. Fancy a game of dominos, Amy Pond?” 

“Only if you promise to stick with an Earth set and traditional rules.” 

“I thought you liked the Levitknia…” 

“Not tonight. Tonight, I want simple and easy.”


	10. The Start of the Crux

Ianto rose from the bunk when the cell door opened. Jack came in, shoulders straight and head high, but as soon as the door swung shut again, he swayed. Ianto caught him and held him close. He could feel Jack’s cold skin through the thin fabric of the coverall when he slid his arms under the coat. “What happened?” he asked quietly. 

“Martha and Mickey happened,” Jack said. “They came to rescue us. Imagine that.” 

Jack was shivering again. His skin was cold, even with his coat on. Ianto knew he needed to warm Jack up. 

He steered him back to the bunk and made him lie down. Since Jack refused to let go, it was a bit awkward to get the blanket up over him, but Ianto was flexible. He finally got them under the blanket with Jack’s head resting on his chest. The shudders lessened and Ianto said, “Do you want to tell me about it?” 

With a sigh, Jack said, “I don’t know how they knew we were here. I didn’t ask. I talked them into giving themselves up so they wouldn’t be shot. So, unless UNIT has something up its sleeve, there’s nothing to stop the government from giving up the children to those monsters.” 

“The Queen?” 

“They are probably keeping her in the dark. She wouldn’t sanction this. None of the Royal Family would. They’ll wait until after the deed is done.” 

“And UNIT seems to be cooperating with the Prime Minister, so that’s out.” Ianto didn’t mention Sarah Jane Smith and Jack wouldn’t either. Since someone was listening to their every word, they would not risk putting her in danger. Jack hadn’t said anything about Alice or Stephen the same way Ianto kept silent about his own family. If the listeners didn’t know about them, there was no point in tipping them off and if they already knew, there was nothing they could do. “I’m sure I should be doing something, but I’m feeling pretty helpless,” Ianto continued. “How about you?” 

“You are doing something,” Jack countered. “You’re keeping me from going insane.” 

Ianto felt Jack burrowing closer. “Tell me what’s wrong, Jack. Please.” 

For a minute or so, Jack said nothing. Finally, he whispered, “I’m in two places. Two completely different places. I’m here and I’m there and I don’t understand how or why.” 

“Where else are you?” 

“I’m… in a cell like this, but not like this. I’m alone.” Jack’s voice was so quiet and unsteady that Ianto had to strain to hear him. “And I’m… I’m grieving. I’ve lost you. I saw you die.” His voice caught. Ianto tightened his hold. After a moment, Jack went on. “I keep seeing it over and over and over. They killed you… the 456 killed you and I’m alone and I want you only you’re dead and it’s my fault and…” 

“Stop it!” Ianto interrupted. “You’re right here and I’m here with you.” He caught hold of Jack’s hand and pressed it against his cheek. “I’m alive and you’re with me and I’m not going anywhere.” 

He didn’t tell Jack he could sense the other that was haunting him. In that shadow vision, he could see Jack, alone with his head in his hands, weeping without making a sound. He could feel his other self trying to reach him – to touch his face – but there was darkness between them. 

He turned to kiss Jack’s palm. The other wasn’t real. This was real. He kissed the palm again and returned it to his cheek. “Anchor yourself here, Jack. This is reality. The other place is just a nightmare. It doesn’t exist.” 

Jack’s fingers stroked his cheek. “It’s much easier to do when I’m touching you and listening to your heart beating. That chases the other away.” 

Jack suddenly stiffened and propped himself up on his elbow. Ianto raised an eyebrow at him. Jack’s fingers applied gentle pressure on his cheek, and he turned his head. “What happened to that gash?” Jack said. 

Ianto touched his face. He hadn’t done anything to the cut except to smear it with some antiseptic cream he’d “appropriated” the day before. Yet his fingers encountered only smooth skin where it wasn’t stubbly. There was no trace of the injury now. “I don’t know,” he said, frowning a little. 

Jack smiled and the sun came out in that closed-off room. “I think… I must have kissed it better before.” Ianto felt warmth return to Jack’s fingertips. “You’re right – this is the reality. I’ll keep it in mind.” 

________________________________________

It was very early in the morning when Amy and the Doctor emerged from the TARDIS. “All right,” the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together. “This is the day. You know what to do?” 

“Go to Rhiannon’s house and get everyone to the railroad car.” 

“Correct.” 

“And where will you be?” 

“I’ll get Alice Carter and Stephen and meet you there.” 

“You’re not taking the TARDIS anywhere?” 

“Don’t want to. She’s still not 100% yet. This morning is the crux. If everything goes as it must, the paradox will be gone. It will no longer exist and the Universe will be healthy again.” 

“There’s no other way then? We have to let those aliens take the children?” 

“I’m sorry, Amy. Remember, we’re saving who we can. There are at least two people in this group who will grow up to be important to the path to the outer reaches of space. Be strong for them.” 

“Here I go then.” 

The Doctor grinned at her and turned in the opposite direction. “Geronimo!” he cried as he took off running. 

Amy used a more sedate trot. She hoped that Rhiannon and all the children were ready. She wanted to get everyone out before the whole mess started. It was grim enough that kids were going to be taken – she needed to do something positive to help. She was a bit breathless as she arrived at the back door and knocked. 

It was opened quickly by Rhiannon herself. “We’re ready,” she said without preamble. “Where are we going?” 

“To a safe place. It’s a box car off the tracks about a quarter mile away. Don’t worry; it’s been fixed up so you’ll be comfortable for a few hours. Once you’re locked in, don’t come out until you’re satisfied that it’s safe. Okay?” 

She nodded. “Come in and we’ll round up the kids.” 

“Be sure to take your mobile. I’ll call to give you the all clear.” 

“Never go anywhere without it now.” 

Amy followed her into another room. There were about twenty children, all looking at her with solemn eyes. Most of them had backpacks on. “All right, my lovelies,” Rhiannon said. “We’re about to start on an adventure. This is Amy Pond and she’s going to lead us to a special place.” She looked at Amy. “It’ll be just the two of us. Johnny wants to stay here and throw anyone off the scent in case they come around.” 

“Good idea,” Amy said. She didn’t think there was any danger to the adults; the Doctor had only seemed to be concerned about the children. She looked around at the faces. “Right,” she said. “Um… do you know how to sneak?” 

Several of the children nodded. Amy smiled encouragingly at them. “We need to walk very, very quietly. Like sneaking. No noise at all if we can. We need to stay together, so if you’re having trouble keeping up, you tell one of us.” 

Rhiannon chivied them into a queue and Amy led the way. Once outside the house, she bent over into what she hoped looked like a sneaky position and put a finger to her lips. The line followed suit, even Rhiannon, bringing up the rear. 

As they marched over the ground, Amy thought they must look very strange. She almost wished she had a camera. She didn’t notice anyone watching them, but even if someone saw, she wasn’t worried. The Doctor had a trick up his sleeve. 

Soon one of the smaller boys tugged on her skirt. When she looked down, he was holding his arms up. She hoisted him up and kept on walking. It wasn’t terribly far, but her body just wasn’t used to carrying a child, and it set her off balance. Leaving the boy behind was out of the question. Still, it was a relief to put him down. As soon as she reached the location, she signaled for all the children to gather around. “I’m going to show you something magical now. Specially made just for you. Remember the special train in the Harry Potter books? You couldn’t see it unless you went through a wall? This is our wall. Be sure you are very quiet.” 

She noticed Rhiannon raising an eyebrow at her. This particular spot seemed rather empty. Amy put her burden down, took his hand, and told the children to spread out in a line, facing the way she was facing. They obeyed, jostling each other for position. “All together now,” Amy said in an elaborate whisper. “Take two steps forward.” 

They did and there were gasps all around. In front of them, where there had been empty space was now a red boxcar with its door open. There was a ladder leading up to the high door and Amy went up it quickly. “See?” she said, still in her whisper. “Magic! Come on up. Just stay quiet.” 

She stayed at the top while Rhiannon stayed at the bottom and helped the children up into the interior. At Amy’s insistence, the Doctor had seen to it that the car had been furnished with couches and chairs, a television with a game system, and children’s books. Twenty bored and hungry children would surely have driven Rhiannon spare, even if it was just a few hours. She’d persuaded him to add a refrigerator for milk and snacks. 

When the children were all in, Amy spoke to Rhiannon again. “Try to keep them as quiet as you can. I don’t think much can be heard outside, but there’s no reason to take chances.” 

“How did you do all this?” Rhiannon asked. “Why is this invisible? Where did it come from? And what’s going to happen that the kids need to be here?” 

Amy shook her head. “Answering everything would take too long. I still have things I need to do. All I can tell you is that there will be soldiers coming whose job it is to take the children away. I can’t stop it, but I want to do as much as I can. There’s sort of a… force field around us that they can’t see. Unless one of them walks into it, you’ll never be noticed. I want you to lock this door behind me. We’ve fixed it so they can’t open it from the outside.” 

“Who fixed it? Ianto?” 

“No, not Ianto. Someone helping him. Someone trying to help us all. He wanted you safe, and you’ll be safe here. If you hear things outside, ignore them. We’ll call you when it’s okay for the children to come out. Until then, stay inside.” 

Rhiannon still looked skeptical, but she accepted what little Amy could tell her. The children were already squabbling over the game controllers. “All right, but call when you can. I want to talk to Ianto and make sure he’s all right.” 

Amy grinned. “That I can assure you. He’ll be fine.” 

Before she could get to the door, she heard a voice calling. “Pond! Is that you? I have the two new arrivals.” 

When she reached the opening, the Doctor was already assisting them up the steps. The Doctor squinted up. “Hello!” he called to the other woman. “You must be Rhiannon! Pleased to make your acquaintance. Sorry, no time for chatting. Amy and I must be getting on. These are Stephen Carter and his mum Alice. They need to stay here with you. Come along now, Pond!” 

Amy looked at the two women eying each other warily. She smiled. “You two have something in common. I’ll let you figure out what.” With that she slipped away.


	11. The Changes

“All right, what’s next?” Amy asked when they were back in the TARDIS.

“Now, we’re about to put into motion a speeding train wreck of events to set time right,” the Doctor replied, fiddling with his switches again. “Hold on to your hat, Amy Pond. We’re starting with a phone call to appeal to the one soft spot in the scary woman’s armor.”

“How do you know she has a soft spot?”

“Because history shows that she does. It’s the only way to get her to let Torchwood do what needs to be done.” The Doctor turned a serious look on Amy. “Every living being has a soft spot. I know I do.”

“Really?”

The Doctor winked at her.

________________________________________

After the flurry of activity in getting the children settled, Alice Carter found herself sitting in a chair facing Rhiannon Davies and wondering what on earth they had in common besides the obvious. The other woman did not look uncomfortable or distant. She was very down-to-earth in her handling of multiple children wanting to play with the same things at the same time. When she caught Alice looking at her, she smiled. “Now that we’ve got a bit before the next fight breaks out, let’s introduce ourselves properly. I’m Rhiannon Davies, but you can call me Rhi. I only ever get called Rhiannon when I’m in trouble about something.”

Alice smiled back. “Alice Carter. Call me Alice.”

“All right, Alice,” she said. “So, what do you suppose Amy Pond meant when she said we have something in common? Aside from sitting in an invisible box car watching a gaggle of kiddies go spare in a confined space.”

“When you put it like that, it does seem rather crazy, doesn’t it?” Alice liked Rhi. “But then, we’re in a crazy situation.”

“Yeah. So who was that man? The one who came to get Amy?”

“I don’t really know. He said to call him the Doctor.” Alice wasn’t sure how much to reveal. She was well-versed in keeping secrets, but not so good with sharing them. Did this woman know anything about Torchwood?

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Rhi told her. “I mean, you’ve got your lovely son there to protect. I’d have gathered up more kids if I’d the time. We have to keep them safe from those monsters. Those aliens. That’s what Amy said. The government is coming to take the kids and give them to aliens. Is that what he told you?”

It wasn’t often that Alice trusted someone, but there was something about Rhi that made her want to confide in her. She’d had no one to talk to about this. She had no idea what was going on except what the Doctor and Amy had told her. She didn’t have a clue as to Jack’s whereabouts. She was lost. Rhi was here and willing to listen.

“Yes,” she said softly, attempting to keep the tears out of her voice. “The government is trying to give children to the aliens. They tried to get us, too. They were watching the house and broke in. If it hadn’t been for the Doctor and Amy, we’d have been captured right there.”

“Oh, you poor thing.” Rhi reached across and patted Alice’s leg with a gentle reassurance natural to born nurturers. “But they got you out, right? Those people didn’t hurt you? Do you need me to make you a cuppa?”

“No, not now.” Alice sighed. “It’s just good to be able to say that without you looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.”

“Hey, you’re talking to me now. I’m sitting in this same place wondering what the hell has happened.” Rhi shook her head. “And Ianto’s in the thick of it. That’s my brother. They sent people to the house to get him, too – soldiers, they were, or at least wearing uniforms. They had guns out and all. Caught my husband Johnny starkers in bed, and that ticked him off something awful.”

“How did you cope?”

“I was scared for my kids all right, but they just left us alone when they didn’t find Ianto there. I think they were watching the house for a while. As though he’d turn up.” She snorted. “Growing up in an estate doesn’t make you stupid, you know. It just makes you sneakier.”

Alice couldn’t help but chuckle. “You look like the sneaky type.”

Rhi grinned. “That’s my cover. I don’t look sneaky. I just am. Johnny, too. So’s Ianto. He’s the sneakiest of us all, really.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, there’s his job for one thing. He told me he works at a tourist office down on the Plas. A civil servant, he said. Only he wears flash clothes and drives a flash car. How many civil servants make that kind of money? And he carries a gun all the time now. He doesn’t think I know about it, but I do.”

“Wait.” Alice had seized on the pertinent phrase. “On the Plas?” She leaned forward. “Was he there when the bomb exploded?”

“Yeah! I was worried sick, but I saw him after. He was there. And so were the people he works with. He said… um… he said Gwen was alive, but that… his boss… oh, yeah, Jack. He wasn’t sure about Jack, but he would be all right. Ianto told me that he just had to find him.”

Jack. The Plas. Torchwood. “He mentioned a Jack?”

“Yep. That’s the one he’s… well, seeing. His boss. My friend saw them at a restaurant. Said they were completely into each other. Wait – do you know Jack?”

A whirlwind of thoughts was going through Alice’s mind. Her mother: “Jack Harkness will sleep with anything, male, female or otherwise.” Jack, refusing coffee with a smile: “I have my own coffeemaker now, and he spoils me.” Jack, angry: “I can do relationships, Alice! I’m in one! With someone who knows what I am and stays. Unlike your mother who found out about me and bolted!” And last month, after Steven’s school muddled up his paperwork: “Give it to me. I’ll put my assistant on it. He can handle anything. Even me.” She took a deep breath. “Rhi, does your brother work for Captain Jack Harkness?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s his name. Why?”

It was funny. Really, it was. “I think I’ve found what we have in common. My… brother. “Alice knew she couldn’t call him her father. He looked younger than she did. “He’s Jack Harkness.”

“You’re having me on.”

“I’m not.”

They sat in silence for a moment. Rhi leaned back in her chair and grinned. “Well, then, I guess that makes us sort of related. Doesn’t it?”

________________________________________

Jack wondered what time it was. Ianto would probably know, but he was asleep with his head in Jack’s lap. Ianto had an uncanny sense of time passing. Jack stroked his now healed cheek lightly so as not to disturb him. Jack never needed much sleep, but he liked to stay anyway, just holding his Ianto. _Mihn tesaoro._ He smiled, remembering Ianto’s whispers in the night. And I’m your Cariad. Your beloved. It was true. Actions spoke louder than words; they were a couple. It was time for him to put aside his irrational fears and use that word in public

At least they were together, providing a much-needed piece of sanity in a world gone mad. Jack wondered how long they intended to keep them locked up this way. Until the government had handed over every last child to the 456?

They were both concerned about their families. Jack had long ago told Ianto about his daughter Alice and his grandson Steven. He knew that Ianto was fretting over his niece and nephew. There was nothing they could do that would help them.

The sound of the bolt being drawn woke Ianto instantly, and he and Jack were both on their feet when the door opened. It was the woman – Johnson – standing there with her soldiers. This time, however, none of them had weapons out. “Is the Prime Minister actually going to hand over children to a bunch of aliens?” she demanded.

It was not what Jack had expected. “Yes, he is. That’s what we were trying to stop. You blew up our headquarters and attacked my team. We were still trying to stop this. The proof is on the laptops you seized. You can find the government negotiating with the alien representative.”

She closed her eyes for a minute. Jack and Ianto waited. It was a lot to take in.

When she opened her eyes, she said, “Come with me, both of you.”

“What about my people?”

Johnson turned to the soldiers with her. “Let the others out and bring them along.” She looked at Jack with cold eyes. “If they try anything, they’ll be dealt with.”

“They won’t.”

Martha and Mickey had been out directly across from them. As their door opened, Jack was almost amused to see Mickey doing the same thing with Martha as he had done with Ianto. It must be instinctual. Jack said, “Stand down, kids. The situation seems to have changed.”

The same thing happened when they reached Gwen and Rhys’ cell. Again, Jack warned them to stand down. He gestured at the door where Clem had been placed. Johnson shook her head. “He’s sedated. He was pounding on the door with his hands and head. It was not in my plans to lose a hostage.”

They were led into a communications center. Jack could see the equipment taken from Hub 2 piled on a table in a corner. “I’ve been listening to your conversations,” Johnson said. “They’ve been consistent with each other. This morning I received this call. The voice is Bridget Spears. I’ve had orders relayed through her before. Play the relevant section again, Harris.”

The woman’s voice was cool and collected. “These orders are directly from the Prime Minister. The buses for the children are being loaded now. When they are full, the buses will go to transfer points where the alien ships will take the children back to their own planet. Once the transfer is complete and the children are gone, we will announce to the general public that their children have been victims of accidents and will not be returning to them. In this way we hope to minimize the unrest. You are to bring Captain Harkness and the rest of his team to Whitehall. They will be turned over to security here.”

Johnson turned to them. Instead of the cold chill they’d come to expect, there was a hint of desperation. “I have a niece. Is there anything you can do to stop this?”

Jack decided to be honest with her. “I don’t know. If you get us to Thames House, we can try to think of something. That’s where the negotiations have been taking place.”

The soldier behind them spoke up. “Agent Johnson, I have three boys at home. How can I be sure they aren’t being taken?”

Another one said, “My little girl – is she safe?”

Jack shook his head. “No child is safe from this. The government hasn’t seen that the threat of the ‘deadly virus’ to kill everyone on Earth is nonsense. You don’t destroy a breeding ground unless it no longer serves it purpose. For some reason they need children. They aren’t going to take out the ones that make them.”

“Besides that,” Ianto said, “if they release a virus they can’t be sure it will be deadly. Viruses mutate very quickly here. It couldn’t kill everyone. The more you think about it, the less sense it makes.”

“This debate is all very interesting,” Johnson said in a tone that indicated it definitely wasn’t, “but it doesn’t answer the question of what we do to stop this happening now.”

Jack thought fast. He hadn’t anticipated this sudden turn of events. “First, we need to get the children under cover. Their transmat beams or whatever they call them don’t work through metal. I had to take the children out to the middle of a road. She said transfer points. Is there any way to find out where they are?”

Ianto shook his head. “It would take too long to hack into the system.”

Johnson spoke up. “Spears said buses. Towns. We can split up and head for the nearest towns. Divert the buses here to the hangars.”

“Martha and Mickey, will you go with them?” Jack looked at Johnson. “Is that all right?”

“Right now, I’d take the devil himself to get this done. Richards, get their weapons.” With a nod, the man trotted to a door.

“What do we do?” Gwen asked.

“Rhys, you’ll be most useful at directing those buses when they get here. Gwen, I want you to patch into the broadcast networks and start sending out warnings.”

“Got it.” She ran to the table to get one of the laptops. Jack knew she needed the backup programs from the server. He hoped she could find the right one.

He turned to Johnson. “Do you have a helicopter and a pilot?” Jack said. “We need to get to Thames House.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Ianto, with me. Let’s see what we can do.”


	12. The Crisis

“Have you got all that?” The Doctor asked.

Amy nodded. “It’s a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in.”

He grinned at her. “Good thing you’re with a Time Lord then, isn’t it?”

“You have your moments.” The Doctor rooted around in a box he’d dragged in from another part of the TARDIS. He extracted what he wanted. “Aha!”

When he held it up, Amy couldn’t help but gape. It looked like a double-level submachine gun. “I thought you didn’t let guns on the TARDIS.”

“I don’t. This is a paintbrush.”

“You’re not serious.”

“It’s loaded with red and yellow. If you actually pull this trigger here, everyone in the near vicinity will be covered in orange.” The Doctor grinned again. “Although it might make some of them look better, I’d advise against doing that. You don’t actually have to be menacing, you know; you only have to pretend to be menacing.”

“With a paintbrush, right.” Amy took hold of the thing and hefted it experimentally. It was lighter than it looked. “What other weird gadgets do you have in that box?”

“Too many to go through now. On your way, Amy Pond! Geronimo!”

\---------------------------------------  


Gwen plugged the laptop into the console where the radio equipment was. One of the soldiers, Jason something, had stayed to help her. The others, including Johnson, had scattered in the Jeeps. They’d split up and headed for the nearest cities: Swindon, Cheltenham, and Bristol. There were villages in between that they hoped to alert as well. Rhys had been shown to the empty hangar and was there now with a headset Jason had found for him.

“Okay, here we go. Give me your broadest communication channel, maximum feed, or whatever it is you use.” She downloaded Tosh’s program to override emergency broadcasts from the backup server and clicked its icon.

“You’re hooked in,” Jason reported. “Ready whenever you are.”

“Right. Tosh, do your thing.” She sent up a silent prayer to her deceased friend that this would still work. “Get me onto the system.” A screen with Tosh’s picture showed up. Her hand was in the “thumbs up” position. Gwen almost laughed out loud. Tosh had always had a very quirky sense of humor. She leaned closed to the built-in microphone and spoke. “Attention, people of the United Kingdom and anyone else who can hear me. I am Gwen Cooper of Torchwood. Listen to me. The government is trying to take your children and give them to aliens. Get your children under cover. On no account let them be taken away. If you see a school bus with children, do everything you can do to stop it and get the children inside for safety. Use any solid building for shelter. Do not allow the government to give your children to the aliens.”

“That’s going to cause riots, it is,” Jason whispered softly.

Gwen covered the microphone. “If it saves one child from those monsters, I don’t care what else happens.” She lifted her hand and started again. “Attention, people of the United Kingdom…”

\---------------------------------------  


Sarah Jane Smith came upstairs to see if she could find out anything about what was happening. She had a basement full of children down with Luke. From her window she could what seemed like every parent in Ealing chasing buses away from the schools. Before now, she’d had no idea that so many of her neighbors owned sporting guns; she wondered how many of them actually worked. Regardless they were presenting a united front. “What’s going on now, Mr. Smith?”

“There is a country-wide broadcast on the emergency system originating in Aston Downs,” the computer said in his soft tone. “The speaker has identified herself as Gwen Cooper of Torchwood.”

“Let me hear it.”

“…The government is trying to take your children and give them to aliens. Get your children under cover. On no account let them be taken away…”

The voice struck a vague chord in her memory. When the Earth was stolen, that was it! That woman had been one of the people in Torchwood who had helped power the Rift. “Identify her, please.”

The screen changed to a picture of a young woman with dark hair and large eyes. Her mouth was open in a smile and Sarah saw the gap between her front teeth. Yes, that was her. “Mr. Smith, pick up that broadcast and send it world-wide. Translate it to local languages, but keep that voice if you can.”

“Yes, Sarah Jane.”

“Also, if you can get word back to her without disrupting the broadcast, let her know what you’re doing.” Sarah took a deep breath. At last they were doing something, even though it didn’t feel like much. She had avoided contact with Torchwood in the past, since she was wary of their methods. Guns and violence repelled her, but she had learned through the Captain that guns were a last resort rather than a first line of defense. She made herself a promise to communicate with them more often. If they’d joined forces before, perhaps they would have been able to prevent this.   


\---------------------------------------

Martha rode with Johnson toward Swindon. Mickey had gone with one of the other men. They had paired up in case the people driving the buses had a problem with following orders. She was half standing in the moving vehicle, arms around the roll bar, to scan the widest area possible. She caught sight of three school buses pulled off to the side about half a mile ahead and directed Johnson toward it. The children were being unloaded, half of them crying and clustering together. To Martha’s relief, some of the parents had followed the buses. Maybe they could get a driver for each of the buses from them if the soldiers proved recalcitrant.

She brought her machine gun up as Johnson screeched to a halt. “Get those kids back on the bus!” she ordered, shouting loudly enough to be heard for a mile all around. Johnson stood up behind her with her gun and bullhorn.

“Children, get back on the buses now! We’re taking you somewhere safe!”

The soldiers were caught off guard. They raised their hands as Martha dismounted and shouted at them. “Drop your weapons! I have no compunction about shooting you.”

They evidently decided she meant business and tossed their guns down. Two of the soldiers actually called to the children to get back on the buses. Martha watched as Johnson calmly shot out the tires on the two jeeps that had followed the buses. At that action, the soldiers who had been trying to restrain the distraught parents gave up. For a minute mayhem ensued as the parents charged toward their children.

“Wait!” Johnson used the bullhorn again. It got an immediate response as everyone froze in their tracks. “We’re going to get the kids under cover at Aston Downs. It’s better if you let them get back on the buses.”

Martha strode over to them. “We’ve got a place to hide the children from the aliens. Let us take them there. Some of you head back into town and warn people to get their children under cover. The government is hiding the fact that they are giving the children to the aliens.”

“Bloody Hell!”

“Aliens! They’re handing our children over to aliens!”

“Why? How?”

“I want my Freddy!”

“Eliza! Over here!”

“Quiet!” Johnson stood beside her but kept her gun up on the soldiers. “In a few minutes there will be an alien ship overhead. All they’re after is the children. We’re nearer to the base than we are to Swindon. Let’s get those kids under cover and argue later. Can any of you drive a bus?” Two of the soldiers and one of the fathers raised their hands. “Let’s go then! Follow us. The rest of you, go back the way you came. Warn as many as you can find. We don’t know what will happen when the aliens don’t find the children. Argue later! Move now!” 


	13. The Survivor

Amy watched the Doctor at the console. “There’s no way to stop the sound of the old girl, but we’ll come in with the full perception filter on, so they won’t be able to tell what’s causing the air displacement,” he said. Amy recognized it as his now-here’s-a-neat-trick voice. “Not even that close.”

She felt the vibration of the TARDIS moving and smiled to herself. The ship seemed to be getting better and better as time passed – they were still on the right track. The climax would be soon. She hoped it played out according to the Doctor’s plan. What the dénouement would be, she had no idea. As the Doctor had pointed out, they were changing the future they remembered and replacing it with something new. The TARDIS came to rest with a gentle bump.

“Go!” the Doctor ordered.

Amy shot out of the door, waving her paintbrush gun wildly. She centered it on a table along one wall that had people both in and out of uniform behind it. They had jumped when she appeared from the corner and were gaping at her. She ignored the large smoke-filled tank on the other side – it wasn’t her concern. “Out! All of you! Out the door! Now! Don’t make me shoot you!” Amy was channeling her inner action heroine and loving it.

“Who are you?” one of the men demanded, even as the others were getting to their feet, eying Amy nervously. “Where did you come from?”

“Not important.” Amy closed her ears to the pounding and sloshing behind her. “Get out of here before I shoot!”

Some of them bolted from the room, while the others followed more slowly. “If you’re here to stop the exchange, it won’t do you any good,” a man in a uniform said. “The transfer has begun.”

“That won’t make me any less likely to remove your head with this. Get out!” She followed the last one out the door and waited until she heard a lock from the inside. No one would disturb the Doctor from – whatever it was he was going to do.

“I need someone to show me to the heliport,” she ordered. “Now!”

Two women were standing together. One of them, a young black woman, stepped forward. “Follow me,” she said quietly. As she brushed past Amy, she whispered, “I wish you’d shoot them all.”

Amy followed her, appreciating the sentiment. “What’s your name?” she asked.

“Lois Habiba. I’ve watched them planning. It’s horrific.”

“Pleased to meet you. Can we move a little faster, please?” Amy found it hard to suppress her excitement at the next part of the plan. A lift ride and a short flight of stairs later, they were on the roof. Amy scanned the sky and saw the helicopter rapidly approaching. Even now she could hardly believe that the Doctor had gotten it right. 

\----------------------------

The Doctor looked down at his hands. They would cause death now. He had tried so hard to put the executioner in him to rest. He wasn’t supposed to decide who lived and who died. He tried so hard to drum that lesson into himself and yet here he was again, planning on taking a life with cool calculation. Without it though the Universe would implode in on itself. He couldn’t let that happen. Taking in a very deep breath, he jabbed his finger down on the button. 

\----------------------------

Amy was so intent on the helicopter settling into place that she almost missed the movement in the sky behind it. It was suddenly filled with silver wedge-shaped ships. They were either very big or very close. From their undersides came beams of white light, clearly visible even in the daylight.

Her attention was diverted when Captain Jack Harkness hopped out, followed closely by Ianto Jones. They both looked up at the approaching ships and waved to the pilot to shut the machine down. They ran across the roof and pushed Amy and Lois back under the safety of the overhang from the door without a word. One of the beams swept across the area, but it passed harmlessly on. They all ran to the side of the roof to look down.

The beam was moving across street below. She heard horrified gasps from the two men as the traffic came to a halt, effectively trapping a yellow school bus. Drivers got out of the cars pointing to the sky. The bus driver, a soldier dressed in fatigues, jumped to the ground. He was followed by a stampede of frightened children.

“No!” Jack shouted. “No, get them inside!”

When the beam reached the children, they froze. A moment later, they began to rapidly float upwards toward the ship overhead. The adults were unaffected, but the children were paralyzed.

“It must be filtering out the ones that are too young or too old!” Ianto said with a voice just loud enough to be heard. Several more children were trapped and being pulled off the ground by the beams. The soldier grabbed one around the waist and was pulled up with her until he tumbled back down to the ground.

A man from a car grabbed a child who was still moving and shoved him under the stationary bus. Other people began doing the same, pushing any child they could reach under the stopped cars around them. As the beam came to them, nothing happened. “The cars are protecting them!” Amy crowed. “Save as many as you can, people!” She knew they couldn’t hear her voice, but she felt better for having said it.

Jack turned to her. “Who are you and what are you doing with an Arithalian paintbrush?”

Oh, bugger, Amy thought. Back to the plan. “My name is Amy Pond,” she said, looking into those very blue eyes. “You don’t know me, but I’m a Companion.”

“The Doctor’s here? Where?” It was the bark of a man used to being in charge.

Amy almost bristled, and then remembered what he’d been through in the past couple of days. She cut him some slack – this time. “I’m not exactly sure where he is at the moment,” she lied. “But we need to get you down to the room with the tank. Follow me. Hurry!”   


\----------------------------

Rhys had counted ten buses already, with five more waiting to pull in. As he directed them, he scanned the horizon, not even sure what he was looking for. He knew what as soon as he saw them. Silver ships swept toward them, coming faster than he could believe. He had pulled one large door shut behind the last bus when he saw one more coming. There were beams coming down from the ships, now, sweeping the earth as they came – looking for children.

Rhys ran toward the last bus, waving frantically to get it into position to pull in. The driver stopped just before the hangar. There was no time to lose. Rhys pulled the bus door open and elbowed the shaking driver out of his seat. He backed the bus up to get it clear of the doors and then gunned it forward. He threaded the vehicle into the hangar with only inches to spare between two other buses. The now bus-less drivers pushed the heavy doors completely closed just as the first beam crossed the curb between the dirt field and the concrete pavement of the motor yard. Rhys glanced down at the other driver. “Learn to drive a lorry, mate,” he said. “Then you can do that.” He popped the emergency exit above the driver’s seat and climbed out to survey the chaos. Well, at least these kids were safe.   


\----------------------------

Jack pounded down the stairs behind Amy Pond, with Ianto close on his heels. They didn’t have time to wait for a lift.

“It’s this way,” Pond said, waving an electronic access card she’d gotten from a woman Jack thought he recognized as Lois from Gwen’s description. “Corridor, here. Door, here.” Amy tried the door, and it opened.

Suddenly, the sensation of being in two places hit him again – this time stronger than ever. He was in the open space of Aston Downs as well as Thames House. He clutched at Ianto’s hand, desperately trying to anchor himself in the here and now. His vision cleared and he could see the tank before him had been shattered. The air in the room was clean, so someone or something had vented the noxious soup of the alien atmosphere. The alien’s bloated body lay on the floor unmoving – there was no sign of the child that had dangled beneath it in that nightmare vision.

Into the stillness a sound came. A cough. A quiet child’s cough. They ran forward. With Ianto’s help Jack shifted the alien’s body off the child underneath. The tendrils that still connected the boy to the alien were covered with tiny cilia, limp now that the creature was dead; Ianto started to peel them away from the child’s body as Jack lifted the boy’s head and shoulders. He was blonde, his hair slightly damp and clinging.

Jack put a shaky hand to the boy’s throat to see if he had a pulse. Again the feeling of the double places hit him. He was looking at a child – his grandson – with blonde hair lank, blue eyes open and flat with the dullness of death. Blood trickled from his eyes, nose, mouth and ears. He was dead and Jack had killed him. “No! God, no!” he whispered.

Ianto’s grip brought him back. “He’s got a pulse, Jack.” The words pulled him closer. “He’s alive.”

Jack stared with wonder as the boy drew in a shuddery breath. Blue eyes fluttered open and gazed back at Jack. Two more coughs and the boy was breathing almost normally. Then, as if a door had slammed shut, there was no other world. Jack looked up at Ianto and smiled. Ianto smiled back. They both smiled at the boy.

Ianto said, “Call the paramedics.” One of the women took out a cell phone and did so. She hurried out of the room. Other people began to come in, but Jack ignored them. He pulled the boy onto his lap.

The child looked at Jack and then whispered in a hoarse voice, “Captain Jack.”

“Hello,” Jack answered. He could feel the moisture in his eyes. “Bobby Ferguson, is that right?”

“Aye.” The boy looked around. “Is this part of the adventure, Captain?” Almost as an afterthought, he said, “My throat hurts.”

“We’re going to take care of that right away,” Ianto promised.

Bobby’s eyes turned to him. “Did you go on the adventure, too?” The boy’s accent was thick, but understandable.

“No, not me,” Ianto said. “I wasn’t there. Tell me about it, Bobby.”

“We went into the light,” Bobby said. “Then we were in a hall. Someone said to lie down and we did.” He frowned. “That’s all. Then I woke up and I’m here. Where is here, Captain?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Jack said. “You’re safe. We’re still in the adventure, Bobby.”

\----------------------------

Amy put a hand on Ianto’s shoulder so as not to distract Jack, who was drinking in the sight of his small burden. “I’ll see you soon,” she said. “I’ve got to go.”

Ianto looked up at her in surprise. “Go?”

She nodded at Jack. “He needs you now. Tell him we’ll see him soon. Oh, and your families are safe. We made sure of it.”

Ianto nodded and turned his attention back to Jack. He slid his arm around Jack’s waist as Amy backed away quietly. She heard rather than saw the doors of the TARDIS open and stepped inside quickly.

The Doctor said, “We’ll wait until the room is empty before taking off again. No need to interrupt.”

Amy looked at him. “You killed it. I thought… you said you didn’t kill.”

The Doctor looked sad. “Remember the burning house? In order to save that boy I had to remove the atmosphere that was keeping the alien alive. Sometimes death is the only option. I never want it to be. I always hope it won’t be. But it happens.”

In a complete change of mood, he said, “Listen to the TARDIS! She’s well again. We did it, Amy Pond! We did it!” He grabbed her by the waist and swung her around in a circle “Geronimo!” 


	14. The Palace

Ianto waited near the Buckingham Palace helipad. It wasn’t a place he’d ever thought he would be standing. His inner historian had registered a mild objection in favor of preserving the traditional which his pragmatic voice had overruled. The pad was safer and more convenient.

Jack had managed somehow to convince General Oduya to let him contact the Queen directly from Thames House. While Ianto had stayed with Bobby as the paramedics checked him over, Jack had spoken to Her Majesty about getting the young boy to safety. They’d immediately been cleared to take him to the Palace clinic instead of a hospital.

Their surmise had been correct. The Royal Family in Balmoral Castle had received false briefings that went along with what they were seeing from the news outlets. They’d had no idea of the true state of affairs. Orders had gone out to arrest the Prime Minister and his advisors, pending investigations. Even with Bobby and Queen Elizabeth to concern himself with, Ianto was surprised that Jack had not mentioned the Doctor. In the past even a mention of the Time Lord would send Jack into overdrive, but this time – it was as though he’d forgotten their brief encounter with a Companion. Rather than asking questions, Jack had busied himself with other concerns. As far as Ianto was concerned, that was all to the good.

He was still dressed in the coverall from their prison, but one of the equerries had promised to obtain some clothes for them all. It couldn’t happen soon enough. Ianto was drained, Jack was exhausted, and he was sure all the members of the team were in the same shape. The doctors were examining Bobby now to see if his forty plus years in captivity had caused any permanent effects. Jack hadn’t wanted to leave the boy alone and scared. The 21st century was a big change from the world of 1965, especially for a child raised in an isolated Scottish orphanage.

The large helicopter had hardly touched down when Gwen, Martha, Rhys and Mickey came charging out. Gwen flung herself at him with Martha a close second. He hugged them both fiercely, so relieved to see them again, apparently unharmed. Rhys and Mickey joined in and when they finally broke apart, Ianto didn’t feel nearly as tired as he had before.

Of course, Gwen had the first question. “Where’s Jack?”

Ianto waited to answer until he saw that Clem was being brought out on a stretcher and placed on a gurney under the watchful eye of a doctor and nurse. Ten more people were being brought out in handcuffs. Ianto couldn’t help but hope that they would put the Johnson woman in a particularly unpleasant place. He knew it was petty, and she had helped them in the end, but he doubted he could ever forgive what she had done to Jack.

Shaking off these thoughts, he addressed the others. “Let’s get inside and I’ll explain.” He indicated the electric carts nearby. “We’re guests of Her Royal Majesty now. Honored guests, not the type they put in the Tower to await execution.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mickey said in his sharp London accent. “Do we get a bloody shower?”

“I certainly hope so,” Martha said, giving him a little push. “You’re pretty rank.”

They really were going to make it, then, if they could still make jokes. On the short ride back to the Palace, Ianto permitted himself a sigh of relief. If they could just hold it together for a short while longer, they could all rest in safety and relative comfort. Soldiers of the Royal Guard stood at the entryway and were scattered in the corridor. At Gwen’s raised eyebrow, Ianto said, “Guards, not jailers. We seem to be a lot more valuable now than we were before.”

“Glad someone realized that,” Rhys growled.

They followed the corridor until Ianto motioned them inside a conference room. “They’ve given this to us to use while we’re here.” They took seats and looked at Ianto expectantly. “Jack is busy right now, and I’ll explain in a minute why. First, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like you to tell me what happened to you. Martha, would you start?”

They went around the room, summarizing. “How many did you save?” Ianto asked.

“Best guess?” Rhys shrugged. “Sixteen bus loads. They were pretty much crammed full. Call it around a thousand. We didn’t have time to take a good count. By the time those ships had disappeared we had a horde of parents to deal with.” He looked sad and Gwen patted his hand. He continued sadly. “We had to tell some of them that we didn’t have theirs. It was rough.”

“Yeah, rough’s a good word for it,” Mickey said. “We didn’t get all the buses redirected. We don’t know what happened to them.”

“We’ll find out,” Ianto said. “According to the information Sarah Jane Smith’s computer has managed to come up with from news and networking sites, we’re estimating somewhere between five and six million children were stolen. There’s still a lot of chaos, so there are a lot of unknowns. That’s a small fraction of the eight hundred million plus they demanded, but still too many.” He mustered up a smile for Gwen. “There’s no telling how many you saved. Sarah Jane’s computer took your message and translated it into different languages and rebroadcast it worldwide.”

“Your turn,” Gwen said firmly. “Where’s Jack?”

Ianto took a deep breath and told them about Bobby. “He’s a bright, cheerful little boy,” he concluded. “Living proof that this isn’t the end.”

Martha went into doctor mode. “I want to see those test results. When do we get to meet him?”

“Probably tomorrow. He’s sure to be tired after all this, and they want him to remain under observation for a couple of days. He’s a bit of a miracle and you know how doctors are skeptical of miracles.”

Martha nodded solemnly. “We just don’t like them at all.” She grinned. “Well, maybe we do sometimes.”

“Jack’s theory is that the 456 keep them in some sort of stasis, just allowing their bodies enough to keep producing the drugs that they crave.” Ianto knew he sounded a bit melodramatic, but he was too tired to care. “Otherwise, they’d die from the atmosphere alone.” He leaned forward. “You all know what this means, don’t you?’ Ianto could almost hear the thoughts buzzing around the room. He waited and one by one they got it.

“I think we all understand,” Gwen said, after a minute.

“Then you know what we have to do next.” Heads snapped around to the doorway where Jack now stood. He smiled wearily as he crossed to the table. “We’re finally ready.” 


	15. The Motherly Touch

Sarah Jane and Luke followed the man down the corridor of the clinic. It wasn’t a part of Buckingham Palace that was normally seen. There were a lot of soldiers about, but her guide had explained that they were there to protect the inhabitants, not to keep anyone prisoner. With the rioting in the streets and the Royal Family returning from Balmoral, it made sense to be extra vigilant. It didn’t make her any less nervous though. It was late and she was tired.

The soldier stopped at a door and knocked softly. “Miss Smith is here, sir,” he said.

The door opened and Sarah found herself face-to-face with Jack Harkness. He looked different than on the Crucible, but still had the same charisma that was an inescapable part of him. He flashed his smile at her and she momentarily felt weak in the knees. No human male should be that charming. “Hello, Sarah Jane,” he said. His voice sounded weary. “I’m very glad to see you.”

“Likewise, Captain,” she said, smiling. “I’d like you to meet my son Luke. You saw him on the screen when we were on the Crucible.”

“I remember.” Jack offered a hand to Luke. “Pleased to meet you.”

Luke grinned. Sarah Jane thought again how much it was like watching a Christmas tree light up. “Thanks, Captain. I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time. You have a neat coat,” he added.

“Thanks. Of course, this isn’t what I usually wear with it.”

Sarah could see he was wearing a prison-type coverall. She decided to change the subject. “We came as soon as we could. Thank you for the armored car taxi.”

“You’re welcome.” He indicated some chairs. “Can we sit down? I need to ask you for a favor, Sarah Jane, and I want to explain why.”

Sarah settled herself into one of the chairs. Jack sank into another. He looked even more exhausted than she had first thought. She wanted to help him. “I’m listening,” she said encouragingly.

“You know about me?” She nodded. All the Companions knew that Jack would not stay dead permanently. She had shared this with Luke and he had kept it to himself. “Okay, then,” he continued, “This is not the first time that the 456 have visited Earth. They came in 1965.” He went on to explain his involvement in the exchange. “I was told then that the government had sanctioned it. I didn’t know that they had kept it secret from the Queen.”

Luke spoke up. “My friend Clyde would say that is wrong on so many levels.”

Jack gave him another smile. “Too many to count.”

Sarah patted Luke’s hand and turned to Jack. “It must have been terrible for you to be forced into that. I can’t imagine how you must have felt.” She shook her head. “So, knowing that you had prior experience with these monsters, the cabinet ministers tried to kill you instead of asking for your help?”

“I am the only person who knows what really happened then. I found out that the others left had been murdered the day they blew the Hub up. That’s how far they were willing to go to sweep it all under the rug.” He paused for a moment, and then continued, “But, I didn’t ask you to come to go over ancient history with me. You needed to know all that because of what I’m going to ask you.”

“And that is?” “Out of the twelve children they tried to take, one escaped. He had already begun to go through puberty so they didn’t pursue him. His name is Clement McDonald. He was found wandering the Moors apparently out of his head. He’s been institutionalized ever since. I didn’t know. If Torchwood London ever knew, I think they would have imprisoned him – maybe even killed him. He showed up again while we were investigating. He’s being taken care of here for now. The doctors don’t know how much he can be helped, but they’re willing to try.”

“Do you want me to talk to him?” Sarah was confused. This didn’t sound like something Jack needed her for.

“No. I mean, you can if you want to, but that’s not what I’m asking.” Sarah watched him take a deep breath. “Clem was never taken. The other eleven were. And today, one of them came back.”

“Oh, my God.” Sarah was too overwhelmed to do anything but whisper. Judging by the look on Luke’s face he was having the same reaction.

“Is it a miracle? I think so.” Jack was nodding. “I could hardly believe it and I saw it. One of the aliens was in Thames House handling the negotiations. They live in an atmosphere highly toxic to humans. I saw, and soon everyone will see if they haven’t already, that it had a child attached to it. I’ve found at that they were addicts and the children here supplied them with the chemicals to feed their addiction. Only prepubescents produce whatever it is, and babies won’t do for whatever reason. Something burst the tank and drew off the gas. That was before we got into the room.”

Jack drew a shuddering breath. “We heard a cough. When we moved the alien body, we found a boy underneath. He was one of the eleven. He was alive. He woke up and spoke to me. He had no memory of what had happened.” Jack stood. “I’d like you to meet him.”

Sarah and Luke followed him into the room. A boy was in a hospital bed. A man was sitting beside him on the bed and they were looking at a magazine. The child pointed at something. “That car has eyes.”

The man – Ianto Jones, she remembered from the TARDIS – nodded. “It’s a character in a Disney film,” he said. “His name is Lightning McQueen.”

“I like that name. May I choose that shirt, please?” He coughed. “I’d like to see that film. Could I?”

“I’ll make sure of it.” Ianto raised his head and exchanged a look with Jack. Sarah saw a world of meaning flash between them and then Ianto said, “Bobby, I think Captain Jack has someone he’d like you to see.”

Bobby turned and she met his eyes. They were blue as the sky and utterly guileless. He smiled and said, “Hello. My name is Bobby Ferguson.”

Sarah smiled back. “I’m Sarah Jane Smith and this is Luke Smith.”

He coughed lightly. His eyes were wide with wonder. “Are you his Mummy?” he asked.

Luke grinned. “Yeah, this is my Mum.”

“I’ve never met a real live Mum before,” he said. “At the orphanage,” he clarified.

“Mum’s the best,” Luke said proudly.

Jack touched Sarah’s arm. “Could we talk outside?” He patted Bobby’s leg gently. “We’ll be back in a minute, sport.”

Sarah preceded him out the door. When it was safely closed, Sarah turned to Jack. “You did that on purpose.”

Jack tried to look innocent, but she wasn’t impressed. “What?”

“You let me meet that boy, knowing full well what effect he’d have.” She crossed her arms. “What exactly do you want me to do?”

“We’re going to have to let the world know that Bobby is alive. We’re using his middle name for that. He’s going to be a symbol of hope, Sarah Jane. The children may be gone, but they’re still out there somewhere. We can find them. In the meantime, he’s a little boy who only knows what the world is like in an orphanage in 1965. It’s going to be a big adjustment for him. We’d like to keep him out of the public eye as much as we can until he assimilates everything. You’re one of the few mothers that I know. He needs someone to take care of him. You have Luke. Can you take Bobby, too?”

She sighed. Once she had thought that being a mother was the last thing she wanted. She was a very different woman now though, and this was a different world. “I need to talk it over with Luke and we’ll have to work out some logistics. You’re still a very sneaky man, Jack Harkness. However, assuming we can work it all out, you’ve got yourself a Mum.” 


	16. Chapter 16

Ianto set the borrowed phone down with a decided thump. Rhi and Johnny and the kids were safe. The rest of the story he’d have to process through tomorrow. It was too incredible to think about now.

Jack came out of their _en suite_ with a comb in his hand and a scowl on his face. “I look like a scarecrow,” he said, gesturing at his hair. “It’s flopping around all over the place.”

With a small smile, Ianto plucked the comb from Jack’s fingers and pushed him gently into a chair. “We’re staying in Buckingham Palace as guests of the Queen in the aftermath of most public alien invasion Torchwood has ever faced and you’re worried about your hair?”

“We still have things to do before we go to sleep, and my hair is as tired as the rest of me.” He looked up at Ianto and gave him a half-hearted grin. “Two more things and we can crawl into bed and pretend it’s a week ago.”

“We don’t have our equipment,” Ianto teased.

“Oh, yeah. A week and a day ago then.”

They both chuckled and it felt wonderful. Ianto tugged Jack up and faced him toward the mirror. “Better?”

“Yes, you’re a genius.” He turned and Ianto saw the spark of hope in Jack’s eyes, where there had been nothing but defeat for so many days. He wrapped his arms around his lover and held him fervently, rejoicing that they were alive, safe, and together. When so many had lost so much, Ianto know that he was being selfish, but he didn’t care.

Jack returned the embrace just as fiercely. ”It’s all right,” Jack whispered. “We can do this, _mihn tesaoro_. Together.”

“Together, _cariad_ ,” Ianto agreed. A moment later, he straightened with a sigh. “In addition to everything else, we have some serious explaining to do. Rhi just told me the same thing that Alice told you. All about a mysterious man, a redhead and a disappearing boxcar. I’m not explaining that on my own.”

“I’ll help you with Rhi if you’ll help me with Alice.” “Done. I’ll add that to my to-do list then.” 

\--------------------------------

“Is everything really fixed now?” Amy asked the Doctor.

“It’s as fixed as it will get. We’re back on track for the future as I know it, mostly. The Universe is not in danger of collapse.” He considered for a moment. “Well, not from Jack’s paradox, at least. The Universe always seems to find new ways of getting itself into trouble.”

“But I still remember it the way it was. I remember that no children were taken. I remember the tempest in a teapot in the government. If it never happened, then why?”

“That’s the TARDIS, you see.” The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and began wandering around the control room. “We’re here, so our memories weren’t affected. No one else will remember that other future.”

“Not even Jack?”

“Especially not Jack. It didn’t happen at all as far as he knows. When we came here, we reset his timeline by pushing him down a path that would lead to this, instead of letting him follow his previous actions.”

Amy considered, and then brought up the question that had been niggling at her for a while. She was still very uncertain about the effects of going back and forth in time. “Doctor…” she began, trying to keep a tremor out of her voice, “if the things I remember from before aren’t what they are now, then… will my present change?”

The Doctor stopped pacing and looked at her. “Yes. Yes, it has changed. It won’t be what you remembered.”

Amy’s mind flew back to the wedding dress hanging on her wardrobe door. Was it still there? Was she still engaged to Rory? “So, it’s different? All over Britain? All over the world?”

“Yes.” The Doctor approached and put his hands on her shoulders. “What happened to you this past year before you came on the TARDIS is not what happened in this reality. Are you scared, Amelia Pond?”

She took a few calming breaths before she trusted herself to answer. “A wee bit,” she said quietly.

“Do you need to go and see?”

“Yes. No. Not yet.” Amy chastised herself. Ambiguous enough, idiot? She decided not to think about it and go on the attack. “You have something to do here first, you know. And we’re going nowhere until you do it.”

It was the Doctor’s turn to be evasive. “About that… it’s really not necessary…”

He tried to wander off again, but Amy grabbed his arm. “Yes, it is!” she hissed. “You can’t keep avoiding him. Doctor, you’ve screwed him over royally and it’s time to fix that! Just like you fixed his timeline. You owe him that. And you know it.” She put her hands on his shoulders in a deliberate imitation. “Are you scared, Doctor?”

A beat later he said, “Yes. And no. Not really, but…” He sighed. “Yes.”

Once again Amy thought that a nervous Doctor was an amusing Doctor in a strange sort of way. “Well, suck it up,” she said. “You’re not getting out of it.”   


\------------------------------

Gwen was lounging on the bed with Rhys. The room they had been shown to wasn’t as big as the state bedrooms shown on official tours, but it was bigger than most hotel rooms that Gwen had stayed in. The bed had her unqualified approval. Compared to a potato truck, a lumpy couch, and a prison bunk, it was the most luxurious that she had ever slept in.

Their night attire was an eclectic mix. She was happy to have it and did not worry about how she looked in a camouflaged-patterned t-shirt with pants from someone an inch or two taller. At least it wasn’t the jumpsuit. Actually, she would have been just as happy to have on nothing at all, but they were waiting for Jack and Ianto to show up for a private conference. Jack, of course, had insisted that one of the doctors in the Palace clinic check her over completely. Her pregnancy was only just advanced enough for them to confirm it; she sighed for the lost tech in the Hub. As far as they could tell, everything was fine. She felt all right. Just tired.

When the knock sounded, she jumped off the bed and trotted briskly to the door, in spite of Rhys’ growled, “Will you slow down? You’re going to pop our little one right out if you keep bouncing like that.”

Gwen ignored him and opened the door. When Jack and Ianto were inside she hugged them again, both separately and together. She couldn’t get enough of making sure they were there and real. Finally, she sat on the bed. “What’s going on?”

There was a desk with a chair and Jack settled himself into it. Ianto propped himself on the desk. Gwen couldn’t remember having seen them dressed so casually, in denims and shirts. “You two look good,” she blurted.

“Oh, yeah,” Ianto said, with a hint of his usual snark. “Dark circles and tension lines are a great cosmetic.”

She sighed. “I meant your clothes.”

Jack surprised her by chuckling. “We’re hoping that stuff was left in Ianto’s flat so we can get back to our own clothes. Without my braces, I think my pants will fall down. And while I’m sure everyone would enjoy the show, it’s not very dignified.”

Ianto growled. “If they stole my Armani, there’ll be hell to pay. That was my birthday present.”

“I’ll get you another one,” Jack said.

Ianto gave him an eye roll. “Not the same.”

Gwen suppressed a giggle. They both sounded so normal and she told them so. Such a relief after the turmoil and pain of the last few days. She was surprised to realize it was less than a week. She felt years older. “So why did you need to see me tonight?” she asked, trying to get things back on track. She was tired and surely they were, too.

“Torchwood business,” Jack sighed. “I need you to think something over. Rhys, you’ll be a part of this, too.”

“I should hope so,” Rhys replied, sitting up. “If it involves Gwen, it involves me.”

“Well, not just that,” Jack said. “You’re Torchwood now, or as good as.” He smiled wearily. “I’ll see about getting you on the payroll.”

“As long as you stay out of danger,” Gwen said firmly.

“That’s part of what I want to talk to you about.” Jack’s face was solemn now. Gwen saw the same expression on Ianto’s face as well. “You’re pregnant, Gwen. That means you can’t be active in Torchwood now.”

“What?” Gwen couldn’t believe her ears. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m still Torchwood, Jack, pregnant or not.”

“You are. But not active. I won’t risk it, even if you will. That’s an order from your Captain.”

“Jack, I’ll go crazy if I can’t do anything for months! You can’t expect me to just sit here and be some sort of brood mare!”

“That’s the other part of what I want to talk to you about. I have a plan which I hope will interest you…” 


	17. The Doctor

Staying in a palace was always nice – all the amenities one could ever want and someone to answer the bell if one should find something missing. The rooms were spacious and welcoming. One could feel the history seeping out of the walls. Jack, however, didn’t want amenities. He wanted Ianto. Wrapping his arms around his lover he pulled him close. Ianto snuggled down, placing his ear over Jack’s heart. “Now that we’ve talked to Gwen and Martha, I don’t want to move,” Jack said, stroking Ianto’s hair.

“I don’t know if I have the strength myself,” Ianto said with a sigh. “We’re eventually going to have to take our shoes off though.”

“Practical. But beyond me at the moment.”

Almost before he got the statement out, Jack heard a noise – a wheezing metallic noise. He sat up as the sharp breeze blew in his face.

Ianto came up with him. “What’s that?” he demanded.

“It’s the TARDIS.” Jack didn’t believe it. “She’s here.”

In the corner of the room, the TARDIS and her flashing blue light solidified into view. Ianto gasped. “That girl – Amy – she said the Doctor would see you later.”

Jack found that he was unable to speak for a moment. He scrambled off the bed, pulling Ianto with him. “I never thought he would,” Jack said quietly. “He doesn’t…”

The door to the police box snapped open. The redhead he had seen before stood in the doorway. “Well,” she said impatiently, “come on.”

Ianto tried to pull his hand free, but Jack just held it tighter. “No. We go together or not at all.”

“He wants to see both of you,” Amy emphasized. “So does the TARDIS. Apparently she’s quite insistent about it. Don’t keep her waiting.”

As Jack crossed the threshold, he felt the soothing presence of the ship. He pressed his hand against her and brought Ianto’s up to touch her as well. The ship’s voice came to him as she always had. Ianto looked surprised and then said reverently, “She’s singing.”

Jack smiled. He had guessed that Ianto would communicate immediately with the TARDIS; he was sensitive to psychic phenomena. Jack leaned his cheek against her to hear even more clearly. Her song had words, whispers he could barely hear. “My Champion…”

“Hello, my lady,” he murmured.

“Your One is with you and he hears my song. A beautiful soul, your One. He brings light to you.”

“Yes.” Jack’s stomach twisted a bit. He still had not shaken that dream off – Ianto dead in his arms because of something Jack did.

The TARDIS sent soothing tones to him. “Fear not. He will live. Time has joined him to you.”

Before he could ask what she meant, he heard a throat being cleared. This was the moment of truth then. He touched Ianto’s shoulder and they turned together. The man standing beside the console didn’t look like anyone Jack had seen before. He must have regenerated. It was a younger body with brown hair and bright green eyes. And for the first time in so many years, Jack looked at the Doctor and was unmoved. No pull of attraction, no desire to flirt, nothing. He was just a friend from Jack’s past. It was oddly refreshing. With his hand on Ianto’s back to make sure he didn’t stay behind, Jack mounted the steps to the platform. He waited for the Doctor to speak. When he didn’t, Jack said, “Interesting what you’ve done with the place.”

“Yes, well,” the Doctor said, shuffling his feet, “new me and all. Decided to match.”

“This is Ianto Jones, my…” He hesitated, looked at Ianto and then said firmly, “My partner.” It was the truth. Ianto squeezed his hand. It felt wonderful.

“I remember you, Mr. Jones;” the Doctor said, nodding. “You managed the Rift while Jack was on the Crucible with me.”

“Yes, sir. I saw you before that, the other you, I mean. I was at Canary Wharf that day.”

The Doctor looked sad. “I didn’t realize there were survivors.”

“There were twenty-seven of us.” Jack knew the Doctor had not stayed long enough to check. He’d been long gone by the time Jack had gotten there. Most of the living had already been taken to hospitals, but his team had managed to find three more when they searched the wreckage.

The Doctor bowed his head. “I should have stayed. But I lost someone very close to me.”

Ianto said quietly, “So did eight hundred other families.”

Although there was no rebuke in the statement, the Time Lord winced. “I’m not that person any longer.” A pause, then: “Mr. Jones, have you ever traveled through time…?”

Jack had no patience left. He wanted to be in bed with Ianto safely lying against him, not listening to a Time Lord circumnavigate the issues. “Why did you let the 456 take our children?”

Finally, the Doctor met his eyes. “I had to. It was necessary.”

“Ah.” Jack used the syllable to convey his skepticism. “You let me be blown apart, let the Hub be destroyed, let Torchwood be held prisoner, let a bunch of corrupt politicians declare war on its own people, and allowed nearly six million children to be taken into slavery by drug-crazed monsters. All because it was necessary.”

Amy Pond spoke up. “Now wait just a minute, there was a paradox…”

“Enough, Amy,” the Doctor said.

Jack looked at her and then at the Doctor. He should have known. His anger flared again. “So, you didn’t come to help me. You came to fix a paradox in Time. Something this week changed the future.” More bitterness threatened to overwhelm him. “I suppose it was my fault. It’s always my fault.”

Ianto touched his cheek, turning his head so that he looked into Jack’s eyes. Jack could see the fire in them. “It was not your fault, Jack.” As always, Ianto’s touch soothed and reassured him. “Whatever happened, you did the best you could. You always do.”

That horrible dream Jack remembered. It must have been a part of the paradox. “I lost you.” He looked back at the Doctor. “That was part of it, wasn’t it? Ianto died.”

He nodded. “That was part of it.”

“I don’t want to know any more.” Jack was firm. He let his anger go. “It didn’t happen. That’s enough.”

“That Timeline is gone. It no longer exists.” The Doctor grinned. “And your Mr. Jones is right. You did the best you could. It wasn’t your fault. It was the circumstances. If there is blame, it’s mine. I’ve never looked back. You do, and people’s lives are better for it.”

That was a stunning admission, considering the source. Jack relaxed some, but not enough to return the smile. He slid an arm around Ianto’s waist. “Is that all, Doctor? Ianto and I need rest.”

“Oh. No, it’s not. Sorry.” The Doctor went to his console and flicked a few switches. “Come here, please, and take a look.”

Jack and Ianto moved to see. The little television that used to be there had been replaced by a much larger flat screen. Jack sighed. The previous TARDIS had been home. This one would take some getting used to. Not that he intended to stay here. There was more focusing and then the Doctor announced, “This is the solar system as it existed before the explosion. The TARDIS has marked the Rifts in purple.” The screen showed blots of purple scattered in between the planets.

“How many were there?”

“I count twenty-three,” Ianto said. Jack had learned to take Ianto’s word about that.

“I didn’t realize there were so many.”

“I think that’s why you get more aliens dropping in unexpectedly. It’s a lot for a small system. It may explain why several races are anxious to get their hands on Earth. However, that’s not what I need you to see. This is what it looks like after the explosion destroyed your Rift Manipulator.”

Many more purple spots came on screen. Jack blinked. “Fifty-seven,” Ianto said, his voice somewhat awe-struck. More than twice as many. That wasn’t good. Before Jack could ask any questions, the Doctor brought up another image. This was a world map. There was still a large purple blotch over Cardiff, but there were smaller circles spreading out from it. They were moving.

Swallowing, Jack said, “More Rifts on Earth?”

“Yes,” the Doctor said. “Several more. One or two might make it out into space, but the rest are going to stay close to the surface. The TARDIS can’t predict where they’ll end up or how fast they will start dumping out debris, but all of them will eventually. Probably within the next two Earth years.”

“Torchwood is going to be busy,” Jack managed to say.

“We’ll need to be a bit more aggressive with our recruitment program,” Ianto added. They looked at each other and smiled.

Jack couldn’t resist saying, “It will go faster if you wear your Armani.”

Ianto came back with, “Your coat will do more to attract them.”

Jack winked and Ianto blushed, and it all felt normal again, just as Gwen had said. There were still missing children, plans to be made, and now new Rifts to deal with, but this was Torchwood. His Torchwood. For the first time since the trouble began, Jack truly believed they could go on. “Thanks, Doctor,” he said. “I appreciate the information. We’ll go now.” He caught Ianto’s eye and raised an eyebrow. “Work to do.”

Ianto raised a brow, too. “Yes, Captain. Work to do. Good-bye, Doctor, Miss Pond. Thank you.”

“Yes, thank you for your help, Miss Pond,” Jack said, following Ianto down the stairs to where she stood. He offered her a hand which she took. “When you stop travelling with the Doctor, look us up. I think you’d fit right in with Torchwood and I like to keep a watchful eye on Companions.”

“Jack!” They turned to look at the Doctor. His face had taken on an expression Jack had never seen before. “Jack, won’t you need my help?”

“No, Doctor.” Jack was surprised to find himself feeling slightly sorry for the Time Lord, but he went on. “No, we don’t need your help.”

“Why?”

“We need to do this on our own. Humanity has to grow and expand. They can’t depend on a crutch any longer. This is going to be difficult and painful, but we need to do it without outside help. I’m human, Doctor, but you’re not. You watch over the entire universe. Right now, you can leave watching over Earth to us.” Jack let his features soften. “You’re welcome to visit, but we’re going to climb to the stars on our own. Good-bye.”

When he put his hand on the door to open it, the TARDIS sang once more. “Keep your One close, my Champion. He will never leave you while you need him.”

“Thank you, girl,” Jack said. “I’ll keep him close.” They went out back into their room. The door slid slowly closed behind them and Jack felt a chapter of his life close with it.   



	18. The Choices

The Doctor gazed at the door through which his former Companion and his partner had gone. Most of him was still astonished at the change in Jack, while the other part was full of regret for what he had lost through his own blindness. This was no longer the Jack he thought he knew.

Rose had seen it, of course. She had told him. All that the Doctor had seen was the irresponsible conman/playboy who happened to do a good deed almost entirely by accident. She had somehow gone past that veneer to what Jack would become. 

The Doctor had wasted an opportunity to see Jack grow and change. The man who had just left was a caring and responsible leader, a man who accepted the hand which Fate had dealt him, and a determined human being. Really human, the way the Doctor could never be. He suddenly felt like a Neanderthal looking at a modern specimen of Homo Sapiens. The future of the Universe and he would be left behind. 

He would probably never have the chance to get to know this Jack, and that made him sad. 

Amy’s voice startled him out of his melancholy. “Wow. They sure make an impression, don’t they?” 

He turned to look at her. “Well, Jack will do that. What did you think?” 

Amy started to tick off on her fingers. “One, they are two of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever seen. Jack could be straight from films as an action star, and Ianto looks like a fairy tale prince come to life. You’d have to be blind not to see that. Two, they were completely into each other. You say ‘Jack’ like Ianto wasn’t here at all, but you should be saying they instead of he. Third, I thought you said he was a flirt. Didn’t seem that way to me. They were flirting with each other a bit – all those looks and talk to each other – but the two of us might have well have been bricks as far as that went.” 

That observation brought the Doctor to a halt. He considered it. Amy was right. Jack had said and done nothing to indicate that he had the slightest interest in anyone other than his Ianto. The Doctor had never imagined a Jack who didn’t flirt, and yet here the Doctor stood in an attractive new body and Jack hadn’t even looked at him that closely. “Maybe he was just tired.” 

“Maybe he just wasn’t interested.”

“Maybe we should end this discussion and go check into your present.” 

She blinked. “Yeah, I guess we ought to. But, Doctor, I want to know what’s going to happen now. This is important for me, you know. This is where I live. I need to understand what kind of world I’m leaving and coming back to.” 

The Doctor didn’t repress a grin. That was Amy. She wanted to know everything. “All right. How about we go see what is happening around you and then we’ll come back. The TARDIS will tell us when there is something important going to happen. We don’t have to see anyone; we can sneak around behind our filters. Maybe you’ll get to see the Queen. Who knows?” 

\--------------------------------------

Bobby needed clothing. There was no way around it. Ianto knew that shopping was likely to be an emotionally difficult experience, not so much for him as for every parent he might see in the store who’d lost a child to the aliens. He hadn’t wanted to send someone else on the errand, but Bobby’s doctors had needed to run some tests and had wanted Ianto to be there to provide reassurance for the boy. In the end one of the security guards had gone in Ianto’s stead. Ianto had worried about whether the guard would get the sizing right, but she’d assured him with truly admirable composure that Bobby was just the same size as her grandson – one of the ones who had been taken. And when the guard came back with a fat parcel of shirts and socks and underwear, she handed it to Ianto with a smile, as though the experience had helped her through her own grief in a small way 

He took them to Bobby’s room and the little boy was beside himself with delight. At first he had trouble believing they were new, and then had a problem with believing that they wouldn’t be taken away by other children at the orphanage. “You’re not going back there,” Ianto said, reassuringly. He couldn’t have if he wanted to. The orphanage had been shut down in 1975 and demolished shortly thereafter. There was no possibility of finding Bobby’s family except through extensive DNA screening of everyone on the planet. Since Bobby had actually been born at the orphanage, no hospital records could be found. 

“Where am I going then, Mr. Ianto?” 

Try as he might, he couldn’t get Bobby to drop the honorific yet. He supposed respect for authority had been beaten into the child. “It’s all part of your adventure, Bobby. Just now it’s a secret.” 

Jack, Luke and Sarah Jane arrived as Ianto was helping Bobby pull on the T-shirt. It had been a bit of a struggle getting him into it, since Bobby wanted to admire the print of the “Cars” characters on the front. “Hello, sport,” Jack said. 

“Hello, Captain. Look at this!” He displayed the shirt front to Jack proudly. “It’s new and Mr. Ianto said I can keep it.” 

Ianto saw the tell-tale moisture in the other’s eyes, and was very relieved when Luke stepped forward. “It sure is a cool shirt,” he told Bobby. “I’ve got that film. Do you want to see it?” 

“Yes, please.” 

Sarah Jane sat on the bed. “We want to talk to you about that, Bobby.” She took the boy’s hand and pressed it between her own. “Would you like to come and live with Luke and me? I’d be your Mum and Luke would be your brother.” 

Bobby stared at her, seemingly speechless, and then his face broke into the widest smile Ianto could ever remember seeing. “You’d be my Mum? Forever? Truly?” 

“Absolutely,” she said. “And Luke will be your big brother, forever and truly.” 

Bobby turned his smile on Luke who nodded. “Forever and truly,” he echoed. 

“Oh… oh... oh, yes, please!” Bobby stammered and then flung himself into Sarah’s arms. It was the first thing he had done that he hadn’t asked permission to do first. Ianto surreptitiously wiped his eyes and caught Jack doing the same. He nodded and headed for the door. Jack followed. 

The rest of the team were outside. Jack said, “We’ll give them some time and then bring him out to meet you. We don’t want to overwhelm him.” 

“Good idea,” Martha said. “This world is going to be a shock for him. He should be under observation for a few days.” 

“I’ll depend on you for that,” Jack said. He took in a deep breath and Ianto felt Jack’s hand seek out his own. He caught it and squeezed reassuringly. The future of Torchwood would be decided in the next few minutes. 

“You’ve all had a night to consider,” Jack began. “I know what I want. Ianto and I will stay together and work for Torchwood, no matter what the rest of you decide.” 

Mickey spoke first. “Martha and I are with you, Captain Cheesecake. We weren’t sure before – all that secret stuff – but we are now.” 

“Thanks.” The word was simple, but heartfelt. Ianto felt Jack relax slightly. 

“It will be a pleasure to work with you,” Ianto said quietly. 

“Yeah, well, we’ll see how much of a pleasure it stays. The Doc here says you gave her quite the adventure the last time she hooked up with you lot.” 

“Oi!” Martha cuffed Mickey on the shoulder. “Like you haven’t had us up to our ears in it since we met.” 

Jack smiled and turned to Gwen. “And you?” 

She returned the smile. “It’ll be quite the change, but Rhys and I are with you. I’m not sure I’m up to it, but I’ll give it my best shot.” 

“You’re up to it. I’ve got no doubts on that score.” Jack smiled at them all. “It’s the 21st century and everything’s changed. Except this. We’re Torchwood.”


	19. The Future

A few linear days after the meeting with Jack and Ianto, Amy and the Doctor sneaked in with perceptions filters to join the crowd of people in the Palace for a press conference. It was hard to contain her excitement. She never thought she would actually get to see the Royal Family this close. (She didn’t count Liz 10, who didn’t line up with her ideas of a reigning monarch.) Just one of the many perks when traveling with the Doctor. 

The room was ringed with the Royal Guard, armed with decidedly non-ceremonial weapons. The civil unrest that had followed on the invasion of the 456 had only just dissipated and no one was willing to take risks with the monarchy. It was due to the long-ingrained loyalty to the House of Windsor that had allowed Great Britain to settle down so quickly. Other countries were not so lucky. Amy spared a moment to wonder if the US would actually break apart, as it had threatened to do. 

There were UNIT soldiers here, too. Amy recognized the red berets. One was on the platform with the Queen, Prince Phillip, and Prince William, sitting a bit apart, along with other men dressed in military uniforms. 

When she heard low-voiced murmuring from the crowd, Amy turned to see the cause. The Torchwood team had entered the room from behind her and heads had turned to gawk at them. Jack and Ianto stood together, not touching, but not needing to. Sarah Jane was with them, although Amy couldn’t see Luke. Gwen was to the left of Jack, with her husband beside her. Martha and Mickey were on the other side of Ianto. Their determined expressions made them both dignified and formidable, and the effect on the room was palpable. 

The public information officer stepped up to the podium and cleared his throat. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, their Royal Majesties would like me to express their thanks for your attendance today. If you would, please hold your questions until the end of the statements and we will try to answer as many as we can. I remind you that the country is still in mourning for our lost children and that nothing that will exacerbate the grief of the parents will be given in answer.” 

He meant “Pay attention and don’t wander off track into finger-pointing,” Amy guessed. 

“I present to you His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales.” 

As the Prince rose, so did the rest of the room. Amy would have, too, if she hadn’t already been on her feet. As he bowed to his grandmother, Amy could clearly see that William carried the responsibility of leadership on his shoulders as though it were as natural as wearing a cardigan. He stepped up to the podium and surveyed the room, smiling a little. “Please be seated,” he said. “No need for all of us to be uncomfortable.” 

Amy glanced over her shoulder at the Torchwood team. Their stance and expressions were unchanged. Only the occasional blink of eyes showed that they were alive and breathing. 

Once everyone was back in their respective seats and the television cameras were again unobstructed, the Prince began to speak. “We do not need to tell you about the terrible tragedy that has overtaken our world. We have been invaded and children ripped from our arms. We can do nothing to change the past, but we will do everything in our power to change our future. 

“The wise and foresighted Queen Victoria established an organization to monitor and protect the Earth from this eventuality. This organization operated in secret and for the most part did its job so well that people were able to dismiss the possibility of visitors from other worlds as flights of fancy confined to books, television and films. Only a handful knew what the dangers were. 

“That changes now. There will be no more secrecy and evasion on this. Those of you in our larger cities, especially London, have seen the evidence of alien invasion with your own eyes in years past, but accepted by and large the explanations you were given by persons you had a right to believe and trust. No more lies about this. There are other races that live on other planets. For the most part they are peaceful, but there are those who are not. We’ve heretofore been saved by this organization on numerous occasions, but they did their jobs so quietly that most of us never noticed. 

“Where were they when the 456 came, you may ask. The answer is that they were doing their job. Unfortunately, they were prevented from doing it effectively because of certain corrupt Cabinet Ministers who felt it more important to hide the mistakes of the past rather than secure the present. Instead of taking their rightful places in the forefront of the planet’s defenses, they were hunted, harassed, and imprisoned. Those who are responsible for this outrage are awaiting trial for treason against the Crown.” 

Amy saw the wince from the military men on the platform. They hadn’t been allowed to do their jobs either, but none of them had been stalked like animals, or had their leader blown to smithereens. Amy had little sympathy for them. 

“It’s a new age that we are living in now,” Prince William continued. “A time when we will all have to acknowledge the dangers we have been living under. Not that the agency will stop doing its utmost to protect our planet, but they can no longer operate alone and in secret. It is time that we learn how to protect ourselves. 

“Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II, has requested that I take the position of leader of this effort and I have been honored to accept. From this day forward, we will have a new purpose. A new destiny. One fraught with dangers and pitfalls, but one with hope. I will share this new hope with you now.” 

One of the doors in the back of the room opened and Luke came in holding Bobby by the hand. He transferred the hand to Gwen and stepped back. She looked down and smiled at the boy. All of them did. It was the first time that they had moved since they had come in. Gwen urged the boy to come with her as they started up the aisle. Amy was startled to see that Bobby was dressed in the clothes he had been found in. 

The television cameras had not turned to show Torchwood, but as Gwen walked past them, they showed her moving towards the front of the room. Her head was high and the expression of grim determination had returned to her face. Bobby trotted alongside her, looking neither to the right nor the left. His whole attention was fixed on the platform. 

Gwen followed as he mounted the steps and stopped in front of the Queen. He gave her a formal bow, perfectly executed as though he’d been born to do it. When he stood up, she gave him a small smile and a nod. Bobby then turned to the Prince and bowed again. His little face was solemn and though there were murmurs, no one laughed. 

Prince William knelt and lifted Bobby in his arms. He turned back to the cameras. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is our hope. What is your name, young man?” 

“Hamish, sir.” 

Amy frowned. His name was Robert. Perhaps they were using a false name. That would make sense if they wanted to give him a semblance of a normal life. 

“How old are you?” 

“I’m seven years old, sir.” He held up fingers to demonstrate, which caused another stir in the watchers. 

“Now, Hamish, this is important. What year were you born?” 

He didn’t hesitate. “I was born in 1958, sir.” 

Gasps shot through the audience, followed by a rising murmur of voices. William quieted them by saying, “Where were you born?” 

“In Scotland,” Bobby said. “At the orphanage.” His brow furrowed as though he was trying to remember something and then relaxed. “Your Highness,” he added respectfully. 

“Thank you, Hamish,” the Prince said and set him down. He went back to Gwen who had come up the stairs to stand at the end of the platform. 

Prince William took a deep breath and spoke again. “This boy is the one you have no doubt seen in the broadcasts of the video taken in the room at Thames House. He and a few others were ‘given’ to the 456 by the existing government in 1965. When the alien that came here was killed, Hamish remained alive. He has no memory of what transpired after he was taken prisoner until he woke up here when the alien was killed. The doctors say he has no after-effects other than some slight scarring in the lungs. 

“Ladies and gentlemen of the world, let me tell you what this means to us. That little boy was taken by the same aliens who came back to steal millions of our children. The ones they took, the ones we are mourning for now – they are still alive out there. They’re still alive and we can get them back.” 

This time the crowd was loud. Hands flew in the air as questions were shouted. The Prince put up his hands. “Please indulge us for a few more minutes.” 

The noise level dropped again. William continued, “I want you to meet someone else. You may have heard her voice on that horrible day. She was on the emergency broadcast network, urging everyone to get their children under cover. Her name is Gwen Cooper.” 

Applause ensued. Amy felt justified in clapping, since everyone else was clapping, too, and she wouldn’t be heard. It was a good thing. She was about to burst with all the energy she had bottled up. 

Gwen stood beside the Prince, her hand still holding Bobby’s. “Hello,” she said, quietly but firmly. “I’m Gwen Cooper of Torchwood. I’ve been fighting aliens for years.” 

She drew in a deep breath. “Torchwood has been fighting these battles since the organization was chartered by Queen Victoria. Our purpose remains unchanged. We will protect the people of Earth with all our strength. Now, we have come to a crisis. We have two things that need doing and we will need help to do them. Our first aim is to establish a better defense against threats from outside of our solar system. The second is to go beyond those boundaries and find our missing children. 

“Torchwood will continue put itself on the front lines of defense in keeping our planet from those who would harm us. Make no mistakes, ladies and gentlemen, there will be more aliens coming, both benevolent and otherwise. We will make friends and allies of the former, and we will stop the latter. That’s in the Torchwood charter – to defend the earth from extra-terrestrial threats. We’re still sworn to uphold that, but now we have another task that is just as important. 

“We are going to build a starship. We don’t know how yet, but we are going to do it. And when it is built, we are going to the nearest system that will support life and look for our children. If they aren’t there, we’ll go on to the next, and the next, and the next until we find them. We are going to find the Children of Earth and we are going to bring them home!” 

For a moment, the silence was complete and then the room nearly burst with the sounds of applause and shouts. The Queen rose to her feet and joined in. Gwen’s face looked flushed, but her smile was wide. When the noise had started to abate and the Queen resumed her seat, Gwen indicated that they were to sit. 

“We are going to do this, and we’re inviting all the peoples of the world to join with us. The NATO countries have already pledged their support and we hope more will follow. In honor of this arrangement, it has been decided that every ship that goes beyond the boundaries of Earth’s atmosphere will bear the name of a missing child.” 

Gwen reached down and took Bobby’s hand. “We know that you have many questions and we will answer them to the best of our knowledge. We’re taking a short recess for you to gather your thoughts. Hamish, is there anything you’d like to say before you go?” 

Amy wondered how much the boy was actually taking in. He smiled and shook his head, then changed it to a nod. Gwen knelt, bringing the microphone with her, and held it out for him. He said, “I… don’t forget, please? Remember. They all want to come home.” 


	20. The Epilogue

_Approximately three months later…_

Jack stood on the hill, his arm around Ianto, watching the TARDIS materialize in front of them. He and Ianto had picnicked under the stars while they waited. It was one of their favorite spots. 

The TARDIS door slid open and Jack had a moment of déjà vu as he saw the girl standing there, her red hair spilling over her shoulders. “Hello, Amy Pond,” he said to dispel the memory. “Good to see you again.” 

“Always a pleasure, Captain.” She beckoned them inside. “Come on – he’s dying to see you, even if he won’t admit it. She wants to see you even more than he does.” 

Jack and Ianto crossed the threshold. Jack, as always, found himself surrounded by the love and warmth of the TARDIS and he could tell that same love and warmth was around Ianto as well. They put their hands on her wall. The song was clear and bright; the words distinct. “Greetings, my Champion. You have brought your One again. I have decided to name him. He is my Light, for he dispels the darkness in the souls of those he cares for. Do you accept your name, my Light?” 

“I’m honored,” Ianto said. “I’ll strive to be worthy of you, my lady.” 

“You will be.” 

Like before, there was some throat clearing behind him. Jack and Ianto turned. The Doctor stood on the platform with Amy and a man Jack didn’t recognize. He and Ianto walked up the stairs to join them. “Hi,” he said. 

The Doctor smiled and Jack smiled back. He still felt nothing for the Doctor except a small lingering affection, but it didn’t surprise him. He had a rich life in which the Doctor played no part. “I didn’t expect you to be back so soon,” Jack said. 

“How long has it been for you?” the Doctor asked. 

“One hundred and seven days,” Ianto answered quickly. 

Jack’s smile broadened. He loved it when Ianto did that. It was as close to showing off that his lover would do in public. In private was another story. “We didn’t expect to see you back so soon.” 

“It’s been a lot longer than that for us,” Amy said. 

Jack took a closer look at her. She hadn’t changed that much, but her eyes were much older. Traveling with the Doctor inevitably did that to a person. “Still looking good, Amy Pond,” he said. 

“We’re glad to see you,” Ianto added. And without missing a beat added, “Rein it in, Cariad. You’ll scare her.” 

Amy blushed and hooked her arm around the young man standing next to her. “This is my husband, Captain. Rory Williams. Rory, this is Captain Jack Harkness and his partner Ianto Jones.” 

“Pleased to meet you,” Rory said politely. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” 

He was a bit on the gangly side and had a rather long pointed nose, but his voice was pleasant. Jack decided to like him. “Don’t believe everything you hear.” 

“If I believed it all, I’d be cowering in fear behind the pillar.” 

Ianto grinned. “No need to cower, but you might want to keep a pillar handy to stay out of the crossfire.” 

Jack decided to head off any flirting. Ianto had become too good at it. “Rein it in, Gorgeous,” Jack said in deliberate imitation. He turned to the Doctor. “So, I suppose you showed up for a reason. Can we get a hint as to what it is?” 

To his surprise, the Doctor looked a little hurt. “Can’t I just come to see you?” 

“Well, you can,” Jack said. “But I’ve never known you to do it before. Ianto and I can’t come with you to save anything. We’re rather busy at the moment. You just caught us. Martha, Ianto, and I are flying to the wilds of Texas in three days. A Rift has touched down there.” 

“Oh. Any others?” 

“One in France about half a mile above ground. So far nothing but a few pieces of junk. One in Portugal just offshore. Made it interesting to pinpoint. No reports of any others, but it will probably be just a matter of time. Together Martha, Ianto, and I make up Torchwood International. I made Ianto the director just to tick him off. Mickey is heading up Torchwood Cardiff just now, but he’ll join up with us as soon as we get personnel trained. Ianto and Luke managed to find the files on how to build a Rift Manipulator from the backup servers. We haven’t completed one yet, but we’re working on it. Sarah Jane’s sentient computer is a big help.” 

“How is Sarah Jane?” 

“Enjoying herself raising her new son. We send somebody over there when she needs help. We consider them honorary Torchwood. Sarah Jane’s okay with it as long as she and Luke and Bobby don’t have to shoot anything.” 

“That’s the little boy I told you about,” Amy said to Rory. “How is he?” she asked Jack. 

“Still adjusting,” Ianto said. “He’s something of an international symbol now, but we try to give him as normal a life as we can. Gwen is keeping an eye on them. She’s heading up Torchwood London, the Starship Project.” 

“I even got her the ‘best temp in Chiswick.’” Jack winked at the Doctor. He grinned back. 

Amy said, “Sounds like you could use some help. Is your offer still open, Captain?” 

It took Jack a minute to remember what he had offered, but then he nodded. “A place at Torchwood? Oh, yeah. We’re trying to fill all types of positions. I take it then you’re ready to stop traveling? At least in time, I mean.” 

“Uh huh,” she agreed. “It’s been thrilling and everything, but we’d kind of like to settle down for a bit. Rory’s officially a nurse. I think he’s qualified to be a doctor now, but med schools don’t recognize off-world experience yet. He could help patch people up.” 

“We never have enough medical personnel,” Ianto said. “You’d be welcome.” 

“Super! We’ll get our stuff and meet you outside.” She and Rory dashed off down one of the TARDIS’ many corridors. 

Jack shook his head. “You’ll be alone again. That’s not good for you. You get into trouble on your own.” 

The Doctor blushed. Jack couldn’t believe his eyes. “Actually,” the Doctor said, “I’ve got someone I want to visit. You’d like her, I think. Two of a kind, really. Oh, that reminds me…” He ducked under the console and came up with a paper bag. “These are for you and Mr. Jones.” 

Jack opened the bag. He lifted one of the wristbands up and stared at it in wonder. “It’s a Vortex Manipulator.” 

“I didn’t know if you’d found yours yet, with all that wreckage to clear away. And yours is broken. I mean, I know because I broke it. Stupid of me. These are new, in full working condition. The TARDIS tuned them to your individual biometrics. She said she linked them, but she wouldn’t say how. Sometimes she does things on her own, you know.” The Doctor shook his head at the vagaries of his ship. 

“She’s a clever lady,” Jack said, grinning. “As well as beautiful.” He put the manipulator he was holding back in the bag. He smiled at Ianto. “We’ll sort them out later. This is going to be fun.” 

“Now, don’t go gallivanting all over space and time with them…” the Doctor began. 

Jack cut him off. “Not what we intend to do at all. My gallivanting days are over, at least for a very long time. We have to get this planet stable and exploring the Universe first. After that we’ll see.” 

“It’s brilliant,” Ianto said. “Thank you, Doctor. Jack’s been missing his. Complains at least once a day.” 

“You’re welcome. Had to do a bit of chicanery. They don’t just hand them out willy-nilly.” 

“We’re not above a little chicanery ourselves. Isn’t that right, Ianto?” 

“Only as necessary.” 

Jack decided it was time to go. Surprising himself a little, he walked over to the Doctor and gave him a hug. “Don’t be a stranger. Come back anytime. Just don’t stick your nose in where it’s not needed.” 

“I promise.” 

“Tell the kids we’ll meet them outside.” Jack grinned at his lover. “I’m still afraid that the TARDIS will take off with Ianto. She seems quite enamored. Maybe as much as I am.” 

The lights flickered and Jack could swear he heard a giggle. “Someday, my Champion, but not without you.” 

“Good thing, old girl. I’m both jealous and possessive. Come on, Ianto. Let’s get you out of here.” 

Ianto laughed and let Jack pull him to the door. “Good-bye, Doctor,” he said, just as Jack pulled him outside. 

The night air was cool compared to the TARDIS. Ianto slipped his hands into Jack’s coat pockets. “Jealous and possessive?” 

“Of you, yes, I am.” 

“I guess I’ll have to work twice as hard to show you I’m not interested in anyone else.” 

“Oh, yeah.” 

Ianto kissed him. Jack’s head swam. Ianto’s kisses did that. They only broke apart when the door slid open again and Amy and Rory appeared. 

She turned to her husband. “We’ll have to get used to that.” 

He smiled. “It means they won’t mind us.” 

“Not at all,” Jack said. “You are now officially Defenders of Earth, kids. Welcome to Torchwood.”


End file.
